Challenge
by Thugs Bunny 009
Summary: Meh. Series of ideas I can't commit to. I challenge any author willing to write to adopt them and make great stories outta them
1. Naruto in Bleach

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto. **

* * *

**Rolling With the Gods! **

**Chapter One **

**Cats Are To Be Loved!**

Five months felt like five years to the little bundle of joy now living in a highly advanced city. A city, such words felt foreign to the whiskered-faced boy. His own konoha-teammate really was a jerk for defecting from the village of Konohagakure no Sato all in search of power from the creepy snake-man Orochimaru.

How did the boy know it was Sasuke's fault for how things ended up the way they did?

He didn't know, but he'd be damned if he didn't pinpoint the blame onto the lone-wolf of the Uchiha-clan.

He felt it was his duty to bring him back home not just because he was tasked to by the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade-baachan, but also because he promised Sakura-chan he would from the very bottom of his heart. And the blond-ninja kid wasn't one to go back on the promises he made to others, especially to the girl he had been crushing on since he had first saw her in the academy.

Furthermore the kid with an unimaginable source of power sealed in his gut assured his pink haired crush that her black haired crush wouldn't ever rely on a creep like Orochimaru because he was a powerhouse all in his own right.

How wrong was he?

Not about the powerhouse-thing because Sasuke Uchiha was tough as nails, but about the reliance on the hickey-mark he seemingly received from said snake-man whom he was attempting to flee to at the time. The fox-boy never really got the details of how Sasuke had gotten his curse seal of heaven.

He was certainly shocked though, seeing the black-markings covering one half of Sasuke's body, giving his childhood friend a somewhat devilish aura around him as he ironically stood on the statue of Hashirama Senju, the Shodai Hokage while the fox-child stood atop of Madara Uchiha's statue, a traitorous shinobi whom fought against Hashirama Senju at the valley of the end where the boys fought to put an end to it all.

There was all that was divulged on Hashirama and Madara's battle at the valley of the end to the blond boy and Sasuke's knowledge.

If the fox-child thought Sasuke looked kind of devilish with the markings all over his body, then Sasuke transformed into the devil himself once he shifted the level of the curse mark from one to two, making two bat-like hands spout from his back and take up the form of two-wings. His usual pale complexion darkened, his teeth became canines, an X-mark was manifested around his nose-area, his finger-nails sharpened into claws, and his dark spiky hair brightened into light blue hair.

He looked truly evil.

The blond boy was speechless having never before witnessed such a transformation but was still optimistic and determined as ever to bring Sasuke back home.

That was where Sasuke belonged as a fellow member of Konoha's populace.

The fight had raged on all over the valley, and ended up where it had started, on the statues of Hashirama and Madara.

Only this time Naruto was standing atop of Hashirama's one with a red-cloak of chakra blazing around his body, his normally bright cerulean blue eyes were that of crimson red ones, his whisker-marks were thickened and resembled that of a tiger's whiskers, and his own finger-nails had become razor-sharpened fox-claws.

Both shinobis held their ultimate techniques in their hands and glared at each other with defiance. Streaks of red and purple were flowing through the air at the valley of the end to this very day the kid was sure as the boys leapfrogged at each other while roaring each other's names.

"_Naruto/Sasuke!"_

"_Chidori/Rasengan!"_

Simultaneous shouts of Rasengan and Chidori from Naruto and Sasuke was followed by the collision of their jutsus battling for dominance while the two were in the air. The magnitude of the teenagers' powers caused a spherical ball of black-purplish energy to shroud them and blow up, nuclear-bomb-style!

When Naruto woke up, he couldn't see Sasuke anywhere. In fact he could see neither the statues of the legendary shinobis of Madara and Hashirama anywhere either.

His face had astonishment painted all over it as he glanced at all the strange devices within an area he had never before heard of in his young life. Those big white-things with wings looked like a mechanical bird to Naruto, but passengers were boarding the 'bird'.

He tried to ask the people of this world where he was, but they all just gave him pitiful looks in return. They couldn't understand him despite looking somewhat like Naruto. At that moment dread was filling Naruto's heart as he frantically pulled his hair out with the folks glancing at him strangely.

But things soon looked up for Naruto once they got him someone that could speak his native tongue. She was a pretty 'Japanese' woman that Naruto thought was weird.

What was Japanese?

That was Naruto's thought.

He didn't know.

Still he was delighted when the lady got him some ramen, but understandably felt uncomfortable once she began asking him questions of where he came from and how he managed to wonder so far into the airport.

Naruto just gave the kind woman a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't have a clue. He told her that he was blindfolded upon arriving in the airport and the lady seemed to buy that to some extent.

Perhaps Naruto was raised in the jungle if he didn't even know what airplanes were.

After that Naruto was shipped off to Japan where he had spent the last five months living within a hostel and attending Karakura Middle School. His life had been okay, but that didn't mean he had given up hope of finding a way back to his own world. Naruto Uzumaki was not one to give up. One day, he would make his journey home.

…Because he made a promise to bring Sasuke back!

XxX

(Northern Japan – Karakura Town – Naruto)

The doors to the boy's five story hostel opened up, letting him come outside of it in a relaxed-manner while wearing an unzipped orange jacket that had the leaf symbol of Konoha embedded into the corner, something he had asked his care-worker to personally make him to show his (for) everlasting loyalty to Konoha.

Naruto still had the green gem necklace Tsunade-baachan had given him wrapped around his neck and a sack-bag on his shoulder.

A blue muscle t shirt was underneath Naruto's orange jacket that had a picture of Tom and Jerry printed on the front of it. It was something of a gift Naruto had received from one of the few friends he actually managed to make in this strange town. A pair of orange pants with two blue strips running down sides of it and a couple of his old blue sandals that miraculously survived his odd travel to this strange place completed Naruto's appearance.

Ah… So long orange jumpsuit.

Naruto would miss it truly, since it was tattered to pieces once he woke up to find himself in an American airport.

His blond hair was still as spiky as ever and both of his cheeks had three cat-like whisker marks on them.

"Ah! Another-day to try my luck of busting my way home! Ha-ha! I think I'm gonna get lucky this time too!" Naruto shouted with the sun-light penetrating his body, giving him a mesmerizing glow that came off as a golden aura instead.

Naruto began his walk toward the school he had enrolled into. He didn't have many friends at all. It seemed like no one could see the illusions Naruto was seeing from time to time. It would usually make him frown. Not only did he have to adjust to glancing at weird rectangle-sized devices with wheels at the bottom of them speeding past him on his saunter to school but he also had to adept to seeing ghosts!

Ghosts! That wasn't fair, because Naruto was terrified of ghosts. They could walk into his little room located in the hostel that he lived in and eat all of his instant ramen-cups! Not to mention the spook the supernatural beings could give him would be enough to cause him to get a heart attack and go into cardiac arrest!

The first time he had seen a ghost the blond had screamed and jolted down the street like someone had put a cap in his rear-end. He told the other kids at school what he had seen and nearly all of them just mocked and laughed at him, telling him that he needed to get his head sorted out, preferably by getting himself admitted into an asylum.

"…School here is just like the academy back in Konoha." Naruto sighed to himself, walking through an alleyway, and taking notice to the doors leading to the backyards of the inhabitations' houses. That was very interesting structure if one asked Naruto.

Back in Konoha one couldn't just walk out of their backyards and into the open world without jumping high up in the sky, but here most could casually saunter out of their gardens and onto the streets.

The blond kept looking around in a somewhat expectant manner.

"Meow."

"Ah. I knew you'd be here. How are ya doin' buddy?" Naruto smiled at the distinctive black golden eyed cat waving its paw at him in a friendly manner. As if cats could do that. Seriously, But it wasn't the first time Naruto had come across that little fur ball of mysteriousness.

Usually if one stumbled upon a black cat more than once it meant bad-luck had befallen them. So the old superstition said. Or it might have said something else. Honestly, Naruto had heard too much folklores to care what the meaning of them meant.

He felt this black cat gave him luck though, because when he had first met it two months ago after he arrived in Karakura Town a ramen-chief ran out of a nearby ramen-shop he had found when he first arrived in town but (he) didn't nearly have enough money to purchase his favourite treat and offered him a free bowl of delicious ramen of his choosing!

When he asked the man why he was doing this, the old man replied that a cute woman had come in and given him the money that covered Naruto's bowl of ramen.

Can someone say jackpot?! Finally, was the thought of Naruto. Someone nice enough had seen how roughed up his life was and offered him a helping hand in his time of need. And it was all because of that black cat.

Ironic really when one thought about it.

Naruto hated cats. To him, they were the devil's minions. It was such a bane of Naruto's when he along with Sakura and Sasuke had to chase that brown fur ball of stress and annoyance around the village when that fat-lady requested the hokage to find her missing cat. The old hag was just lucky that she was married to the Fire Daimyo (Fire Feudal Lord), otherwise the Hokage wouldn't assign any Konoha genin team to give chase to that damned cat.

But it's digressed now.

The busy woman whom paid for Naruto's ramen didn't even have the time to get Naruto's thanks as the old man had informed him she was in quite the rush.

He did try to make her stop, but once he turned around the woman seemed to vanish as if she wasn't even there in the first place. Strange, but Naruto had experienced weirder, like getting thrown in another world for instance.

"I dunno how you keep finding me." Naruto grinned, channelling his chakra to his feet and strolling up the wall to sit by the cat. He abruptly giggled as he patted the cat that purred as if it were approving of his use to come to it. His childlike-innocence adored every minute of seeing the cat's odd look the first time Naruto performed the tree-walking jutsu.

"If ya like that then you'll love my water-walking technique granny cat!" Naruto bragged, missing the hum that came from the cat and as well as the twitching eyebrow from it.

It was a young good looking cat! Not an old wrinkly one damn it!

"Man I'm like a messiah or something in this rectangle-shaped-boxes-speeding world!" Naruto continued to power up his haughtiness, all the while the cat kept on nodding as if it were really processing all of the info Naruto fed it.

Naruto gave the cat one last stroke which earned him a purr and a massage to his shoulder as the happy cat rubbed its head against his arm, "Man! Sometimes I believe you gotta mind of your own buddy," Naruto grinned, hopping off of the wall before getting the chance to see the smirk that crossed the cat's face.

Naruto waved at the fur-ball animal, "Bye, bye wise kitty cat!" After Naruto had sprinted off, the cat let out a laugh as it kept a firm eye and a lock on Naruto's position as if it were assigned to guard over the boy.

'You have no idea shrimp.' A thought of playfulness oddly was processed through the cat's head as it turned its head and glanced at a slowly moving shadow heading its way, revealing a silhouette that made the cat inwardly sigh in relief that Naruto had left before he had gotten to see it.

"Well I ought to get to work then. I don't want goldie locks with the whiskers on his face getting maimed now, do I?" The cryptic cat contemplated in a jesting manner as a blinding azure glow overtook its body, the silhouette and the cat vanishing within a second or a half as the glow that'd obscured the area died down.

XxX

(With Naruto)

"So long kid." A man at an ice cream stand waved goodbye to the fox-child as he rode away on foot with a pink treat in his hand with sprinkles, red sauce, and a chocolate flake on the side to complete it.

"It's like that cat's got the lucky number seven engraved into its body, or something. Every time I see it fortune seems to fall into my lap," Naruto said joyously, licking on a strawberry flavoured ice cream cone after finding some money five minutes after leaving the cat. A lord must've been fond of him.

As Naruto strode on the streets of Karakura Town with the vehicles he had come to know as cars speeding past him every so often, his eyes wondered around the tall buildings of the city. The first time he had seen them back in America where he had come from after getting blasted here, he was in awe at the overly massive rocks built to fit people in and to use it for leisured purposes, like homes, or for business ones like school.

He had never seen buildings so big. The ones in Konoha were smaller, yet more colourful than these ones. For the most part the ones he bared witness to nowadays had bland colours such as grey, like his school for instance.

Naruto frowned. His school-building should've been painted orange. That was a badass colour if one asked Naruto Uzumaki!

He did find himself happily fascinated with the speedy vehicles of this world. He could remember when he was travelling toward his hostel with his care-worker in a cab, hands planting on the window with his eyes scanning the elegance of Karakura Town in all his innocence.

It was night time the day he stepped foot onto his temporally home. The dazzling lights shrouding the city that night in its radiance mesmerized the lost boy all the more and amused the cab-driver and the nice lady that was his care-worker, as she worked in the hostel that was designed for orphaned youths, low-priced teenagers, delinquents, and recently released criminals.

They had a little laugh that night when Naruto asked could he drive the cab, and his care-worker told him when he was older he could take his driving test and become a driver.

Naruto pouted.

But at least it was something to look forward to, depending how long it took him to hunt for a way home.

Maybe life here weren't such a bad thing?

"Hey, American-boy?" But then again, it had its negative points. Particularly the gang of delinquent boys wearing the uniform of Karakura High School all standing before him with smirks on their faces, their shirts unbuttoned and not properly tucked in to let the world know they were indeed hoodlums.

"What's an American doing here in Japan anyway? What, come here ghost-busting?" The older boy mocked him, making a scowl appear on Naruto's face that got the accuser and his friends to laugh loudly at the blond's misfortune.

He beat up many kids in school for the sole reason that they ridiculed him for seeing ghosts like the children back in Konohagakure no Sato did due to the encouragement of their parents. Only this time he was strong enough to do something about it. Or it could be divulged to the fact that no kid in school used chakra or were super-powered in any way.

So they got humiliated by the strong ninja.

But some humans had siblings or other relatives they could call upon if a kid utterly outclassed and mopped the playground with them all!

And that was how Naruto found himself a new job, sweeping the pavements with older kids heading on a one way ticket to jail once they become of age, or hell if they were lucky, since jail could be considered an even worse torture period than living an eternality in the flames of the underworld!

Probably because some thought dying was easier than having to deal with the stress of life.

The suicide was blessed for some.

"Awww. Is the wannabe ninja gonna cry now?" Another older boy teased at the deadpanned Naruto.

"Gah, same old, same old, the daily routine never ends. I ought to get myself one of those uniforms the trash-men wear, since I seem to be finding myself taking out the garbage a lot." Naruto sighed, "Guess I'm just an up-standing citizen, right lads-? I mean rubbish." The kids snarled at Naruto, getting him to grin innocently as he threw his cream cone at one of them and watched feverishly as it connected with his face resoundingly, knocking him to the ground with a loud thud.

The others just stared on with open mouths and wide eyes to depict their shocks at seeing one of the members of their crew of twenty fifteen year old teenagers bulldozed to the ground by a mere cream cone. They already thought Naruto was a weirdo due to the fact that he called himself a badass ninja and had those marks that resembled a cat's whiskers on his face.

This just solidified their belief that Naruto was anything but normal.

And thus he must be bullied.

"Let's fuck him up!" They raged simultaneously, making the noise of an elephant stampede echo through the tunnel Naruto had walked under to get to school.

A blur shot upward from Naruto's position, his school-bag no longer on his shoulder.

Naruto cracked his knuckles, an eager grin engraving itself onto his face at the prospect of taking the trash to the dump yard, "Hey, maybe this job's not so bad." And maybe it was, since Naruto found that he over did it on the 'clean-up' part, which would often leave him running late for school.

Oh who cared!

He hated that place of education anyway.

Naruto bent down on his knee the moment the raging boys huddled around him and immediately began laying into him with wild kicks and punches with absolutely no style or flow to their blows whatsoever. Once the blond-boy rose up, left fist clenched and frozen upward as if he was saluting his surrogate grandmother, the hokage, the culprits were all blown upward while screaming in pain.

Naruto gracefully landed on his feet with his eyes closed and a goofy grin on his features. Damn it felt so cool to be the strongest kid around the block. It beat being knocked around like he used to be back when he lived in Konoha. Or still did since he _was _going to find a way home. And one could count on that.

…Dattebayo!

BOOM!

The usual detention group Naruto had given a one way ride to the sky had fallen onto the floor with hard crashes for all. The casual moan and twitches of the limbs were seen while some even cried 'I want my mommy/momma.'

"And that's the end of that chapter," Naruto dusted his hands off with a wide grin on his whisker-marked face. "Let that teach ya a lesson… that I'm not sure what it is yet." Naruto cupped his chin with a pensive look washing over his chubby (baby fat) face. He would've kept thinking what that lesson he taught the rude-boys was if he hadn't realized he had to be in class in the next five minutes.

A combination of waking up (on purpose), and stuffing his face full of instant ramen cups left him short of time to get to school.

"Wah! I gotta get myself to school! Ya know what, just don't bother me again, dattebayo!" Naruto concluded with a huff, making the downed boys moan excruciatingly. That was the lesson he was attempting to divulge from his mind anyway. How could they lose to such a simple-minded kid?

As if the gods were painting Naruto's undeveloped mind a thud landed onto his head that felt like a brick of sorts, as it immediately put him on guard. Flashing a kunai out of his hidden compartment within his new orange jacket, Naruto frantically shifted his head from side to side with a pout of annoyance on his face.

"Who's there?" Naruto asked demandingly, slowly lowering his guard once no one was brave enough to speak up, and question his sanity, "Whoever that was, just knock it off, okay?" Naruto put the kunai back into his jacket and bent down to lift his sack bag up after it landed onto his head and onto the ground.

The blond boy skipped off to school while humming happily, completely forgetting the fact that he had to be in class within the next five minutes.

XxX

(Karakura Middle School)

The quiet atmosphere of a classroom full of young kids ranging from age eleven to twelve year olds sitting by four rows of twenty desks was broken by the noise of a thunderous thump. All heads rotated themselves almost instinctually while the brown haired teacher sighed exasperatedly, as she was in the middle of calling out the names on the register she held in her hands.

One little girl smiled at the sight of the mini rascal while the other kids regarded him with indifference.

"Yay, Medachitagariya de Igaisei Nanbā Wan no Dotabata Ninja (The Show-Off, Number One Unpredictable, Noisy Ninja) Naruto Uzumaki is in da house!" The responses he got were a slight giggle from the aforementioned smiling girl while another one merely rolled her eyes at him and his childish behaviour. Their fellow classmates just stared at him strangely, "I'm right on the money, right obaa-san?"

The kids winced at the audacity of Naruto to call their teacher an old lady, even the two girls that had nothing against him let out a slight wince.

The bespectacled woman's eyes narrowed at Naruto before she whipped off her glasses and unfurled her long brown hair that was done up in a single bun with chopsticks in it. Her coffee brown hair flowed down to her upper back and emphasized her elegance. A radiant glow was around her tanned-skin and her attire consisted of a medium red blouse top, a long brown skirt falling to her ankles, black leggings, and black-high heels on her feet.

Her breasts were a modest size of CC-cup.

"Do I look _old _to you boy?" There was a hint of warning in her imprudent words.

"But you are ol-." Naruto attempted to defend himself, but a sharp glare from the no-tolerance woman silenced him with a gulp, "Hehe. Sorry, Tukiyo-sensei," Naruto apologised, rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner.

"Apology accepted. Now go sit down." The now identified Tukiyo-sensei commanded, picking up her chopsticks she used as hairpins to retied her hair back into its usual bun. Naruto nodded, moving toward his seat with a white tail trailing behind him. The source of it was stuffed into Naruto's blue sandal. Tukiyo wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for the fact Naruto didn't have his usual holder for his belongings with him on his shoulder.

"Naruto…"

Naruto stopped.

"Yeah Tukiyo-sensei?"

"Where's your school bag?"

"It's right on my shou-." Naruto started to confidently tell her it was right on his shoulder, only to stop when he realized it weren't there, "Aw man! I must've left it in the bathroom again!" Naruto panicked, spinning around to sprint into the bathroom before tripping over the toilet paper sticking out of his sandal.

"Who put this in there?" Naruto demanded, making the majority of the class laugh at the class-clown while the two girls and Tukiyo-sensei just sighed. Naruto was so clumsy, and forgettable it was untrue.

After Naruto had retrieved his bag from the bathroom, he strode into the classroom while taking in a breath of relief. Tukiyo gave him a chiding look that said 'Are you done with your antics, young Uzumaki-san'. This'd Naruto grinning bashfully before he jogged on over to his desk.

Naruto tucked himself into his desk like a good little boy and breathed in and out in something of a leisured manner. A curious expression found its way to Naruto's face once he felt a tug on his sleeve, making him look over to the side to see the girl that had giggled innocently when he first showed up in class and made a clown out of himself.

It was just like he always did.

"Are you okay, Naru-kun? You're not hurt are you after that fall?" The girl fretted over Naruto. Her short brown hair that reached just past her shoulders was so light it could be considered dark blonde. A bang of her hair covered the right side of her pretty face with a strawberry-style hairclip on the left side of her face just above her ear. Her brown eyes filled with innocence crinkled with a bit of concern for Naruto's wellbeing.

She wore a green hooded dress that reached past her knees with a big yellow button on it and a pair of shoes was on her feet. She had a black handbag which she used as a makeshift schoolbag.

"Of course I am Yuzu-chan! Notta rubbish too stinky to be left around is gonna keep me stalled for long! Haha!" Naruto declared boisterously, grinning like a loon. His dearest friend to date frowned at his words. In short she'd known him since he first enrolled in school. She took pity on him when the other kids ridiculed him during and after the days of his declaration that he could see dead people.

Naruto was to be eternally known as Ghost-boy, given to him for his insane antics three months ago.

Naruto did cheer up instantaneously when Yuzu told him that she and her family could see spirits and Karin confirmed that fact also. Well in Yuzu's case she could only just barely see ghosts, but see them nonetheless. Yuzu wholeheartedly informed Naruto of her decision to divulge her weirdly foresight to witness the spirits of the otherworld slightly to their classmates, and Karin stood by her sister, and was also more willing to attempt to clear up Naruto's 'insanity'. But the boy was stubborn, telling the twins that he didn't want them to be shunned among their peels like he was.

His sense of honour was quite high even if he did have himself a little cry once he thought the girls weren't looking.

When did he become so noble huh?

He missed the slight tinge of pink that shrouded Yuzu's face as the girl really liked how noble he was, especially considering the fact that she had neglected to realize the consequences of letting their classmates know that she could see ghosts in blurry fashion.

Yuzu had friends. She certainly wouldn't want to lose them.

Although she did suppressed the urge to sigh 'oh Naru-kun' since his loud shout brought the kids' attentions onto them and the chiding stare of Tukiyo-sensei as the brunette kept her hands firmly on her hour-glass figure.

"Keep it until after class you two." Tukiyo sternly commanded.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself, ya know," Naruto chuckled slightly, finding it relaxing to massage the back of his head that got Tukiyo to sigh, Yuzu to smile, and Karin to smirk.

Does the cat-faced boy ever feel down?

XxX

(Some ways away from Karakura Middle School)

"MWHAHAHAHA!" A gorgeous girl feigned a maniacal laugh in cheery fashion with her arms crossed over her chest in an X-shape. Her long orange burnt hair fell to her upper back with two blue hairpins on either side of her face. She wore a white dress shirt with a red ribbon bowtie around her neck. A grey short skirt fell to her knees with white socks stretching up to her knees, and a pair of brown shoes completed her appearance.

Her hips were curvaceous, very womanly for a girl of only fifteen years of age. And her breasts were FF-cup, publicity was blessed for some. In all her elegance the girl opened up her dark eyes to reveal the happiness just over-flooding them to depict her chirpiness to the world.

It didn't fade upon seeing the somewhat disturbed look of her fellow orange haired classmate a bit.

"C'mon Ichigo, don't you know what this is!" The orange haired beauty laughed in mocked malice. For a highly intelligent girl whom scored the second highest on the school exams, she could sometimes be a bit of a ditz.

"Uhh. Spirit Hunter," The orange spiky haired boy guessed, straightening up and tucking his hands into his pockets. He was a tall boy with a very well built body, not too muscular but not too skinny either. A pair of blue headphones were around his neck while he wore a white dress shirt tucked into his grey school trousers, only he didn't have on the school bowtie and opted to leave the first three buttons of his shirt undone. A couple of black shoes were on his feet and a bag was over his shoulder, looking like the ones where some people carried their laptops in.

The girl clapped her hands together, "Yeah! Isn't that show just the bested show ever?" Her arms went gracefully up in the air, "C'mon then Ichigo, join in with me." She proceeded to chant the annual laugh of the show before finding her arms ensnared by two equally feminine hands, but still had quite a solid grip on her.

"Hey!"

The young girl looked to her left at the sound of her best friend's voice to see her black spiky hair and onyx coloured eyes staring at her. She wore the same uniform as Orihime with the only difference being in the girls' breast size. Publicity wasn't blessed to all now. The black haired girl's ones wasn't nearly as big as orange haired beauty's ones, and her body wasn't nearly as shaped in an elegant manner as the orange haired girl's, but she was cute and pretty in her all own fearsome glory.

"Oh, hey, Tatsuki-chan, what's up?" The orange haired girl asked gently.

"Come on Orihime, move it." The now identified Tatsuki ordered to the now known Orihime as she began easing her best friend in the direction of their seats, "You can 'mwhahahaha' with me." Orihime visibly winced as she wanted to do that with Ichigo.

Ichigo Kurosaki watched them go off with a strange look on his face. He was slightly thankful to his long time childhood friend Tatsuki Arisawa was removing Orihime from his presence even if he didn't outright admit it. Orihime was okay, though Orihime and Ichigo weren't that close but occasionally seen each other around town from time to time since Tatsuki was good friends with both of them, but a long-time friend of Ichigo's.

They used to attend karate together. Tatsuki fondly reminisced the days where she used to lay Ichigo down for the count and the orange haired boy would cry his eyes out until his beautiful mother would come to pick him up, making him stop bawling just at the graceful appearance of her.

Ichigo used to be a goofy, happy boy back then… six years ago.

But ever since _that _day, the boy was happy no more… He was a shell of his former self. Nowadays whenever Tatsuki would see Ichigo, he'd always appear nonchalant as if he was never going to die and had fully accepted the fact that all of his family members would die before him with him living for an eternity.

A few random bursts of anger would occasionally come from Ichigo to let Tatsuki know he was still human to an extent in the form of a cranky expression on his face.

"Yo Ichigo," Ichigo turned an uninterested eye onto the one that had called him to see three of his school friends. They all had their arms crossed over their chests while two of them did the annual malevolent laugh in cheery fashion. The tallest one's face was frozen on impassive mode, "Keigo here."

"And Mizuiro."

The tallest one merely hummed.

Ichigo sighed with a twitching eyebrow at the three of them. The one in the middle was so tall that even Ichigo, (who wasn't short by any means), came just past his shoulder. His skin was dark tanned and very masculine, making him look like a twenty five year old man instead of the fifteen year old boy that he was. He had a gold chain wrapped around his neck given to him by his grandpa whom convinced him that he shouldn't use his fists for fighting but to protect the ones closest to him. His white dress shirt was also unbuttoned like Ichigo's, and tucked into his grey pants with a pair of black shoes finishing off his appearance.

The hulking boy was Yasutora Sado, but he was given the nickname 'Chad' by his good friend Ichigo.

Chad was born in Japan but taken to Mexico by his parents at a young age. After their deaths, Chad was adopted by Oscar Joaquín de la Rosa, a man believed to be Chad's grandfather since Chad referred to him as grandpa but in Mexican. Oscar's attempts to turn the once violent youth into a somewhat decent boy were futile until a certain day.

The kids Chad beat up out of anger because they miffed him in some way told their fathers and they came looking for Chad to punish the boy for knocking out their children. Oscar came between the fathers and Chad and took the beating for his grandson. That was the stroke of inspirational for Chad to change his ways and become a decent person.

The chain around Chad's neck was a memento given to him by his now deceased grandpa.

After Oscar's death, Chad moved back to Japan and enrolled into Karakura High School.

He met Ichigo once he found the boy being attacked by thugs. He stoically took their punches and they fled out of fear. The same thugs came back for Chad and managed to subdue him by smashing a brick into his head. They dragged Chad underneath a bridge before tying him to a chair.

Luckily for Chad, Ichigo showed up and battered the thugs after they had taken Chad's medallion. Ichigo handed the medallion back to Chad and told him that they should stick together and have each other's backs. Chad agreed and ever since then the two had the closest thing to a best friend in one another.

A brother-in-arms sort of thing, sometimes people had to stick together.

The hyperactive boy with brown hair and dark eyes wearing the school uniform except he had a tie around his neck and his shirt not tucked into his trousers along with the black haired boy with green eyes and black hair with a strand of his hair falling between his eyes also wearing the school uniform like his dear friend Keigo, Mizuiro, met Chad and Ichigo when the powerful tall lads protected them from a couple of bullies.

"I'm not going." Ichigo deadpanned.

"What? Whaddya mean you're not going?" Keigo gasped exaggeratingly, "It's the best TV show in Japan dude. And it's gonna be broadcasted right here in Karakura Town! You gotta go! You'd have to be dead to miss it dude!"

"Guess that makes me a living zombie then." The smart-mouthed orange haired man groused crudely, "Now get lost." He made the shooing motion to Keigo.

Keigo recoiled with fake tears in his eyes, "But I already went to the trouble of asking Rukia to go." He squeaked, pointing to the petite black haired girl holding the edges of her short skirt in a pleasant manner, causing Ichigo to sweat drop at her feigned mannerisms.

"Hi Ichigo," Rukia greeted brightly, no one but Ichigo knew she was a woman centuries of years old. Her black hair fell to her shoulders with a strand of her hair hanging between her eyes and her purple tinged orbs danced with pleasant mirth at the boy whom she surrendered her powers to so he could rescue his family. She played the part of innocent school girl well wearing the Karakura High School uniform for girls and all.

Keigo strode over to Rukia with his arms shaped over his chest in an X-shape, "You know you wanna do it Rukia. 'Mwhahahahaha'."

"No." Rukia replied as if she were a princess, placing her hand on her cheek and feigning a blush on her cheeks, "I'll be too embarrassed to do it."

"Come on Rukia. It's not hard. I'll show you!" Keigo insisted and proceeded to laugh loudly while Rukia swayed her hips from side to side as she cutely shook her head.

Ichigo watched with a deep scowl of annoyance and a twitching eyebrow on his features, 'Geez. She's become quite the little actress.' She had the whole class thinking she was this innocent transfer student when in reality she was a shinigami who came from a place rich of spirits and gods known as the Soul Society.

Ichigo knew this well since the woman snuck into his home around four months ago looking for a hollow. He booted her in the rear-end thinking that she was a burglar. She was surprised that he could see her, and Ichigo thought that she was crazy until his father ran into the room and told him to be quiet.

Ichigo hammered his father into his stomach and shouted right back at him that he should be quiet. Isshin only gave his son a blank stare in return when Ichigo pointed at Rukia. He couldn't see her. Ichigo was shocked at that and Rukia went on to explain that normal humans couldn't see spirits, but humans with high amounts of reiryoku could, like Ichigo for instance.

She briefed him on her duties as a shinigami with her horrendous drawings. They were so terrible they looked more like bunny rabbits rather than scary monsters known as hollows that had white masks on their faces and went around stalking the streets of the world of the living looking for snacks (humans) to fill the holes in their chests where their hearts used to be.

Their inconvenient get together was cut short when they heard a primal roar followed by the sounds of a bulldozer crashing into someone's house and a bloodcurdling scream. It didn't take long before Ichigo's sister, Yuzu, tremblingly walked into his room and informed him that something had Karin and how he must run to safety.

Ichigo wasn't going to do that and didn't.

Not when his family was in danger.

After overpowering Rukia's kido spell, leaving the small lady in shock how a human could bust out of her spell like it was nothing; Ichigo grabbed a baseball bat and heroically charged downstairs like a man on a mission.

At first, he was furious when he noticed the huge hole in his home, but then he was overcome by fear at the cause of it. It was sort of like looking at a mixture of a blackish ogre fused with a demon with a milky white mask covering its face with a hole in its chest where its heart should've been.

Its eyes were like two black voids with two sun yellow colours within them.

Then that fear was crushed and replaced by sheer determination when he seen his sister Karin in the creature's hand. He ran in front of it and told it that it should eat him instead. The hollow greedily accepted the brave boy's offer and began to stalk Ichigo, ready to devour him.

Rukia rushed in front of Ichigo and blocked the hollow's attempt to devour him, causing it to drop Karin to which Ichigo caught her in his arms. Rukia berated him on his reckless actions, telling him the hollow would not stop absorbing souls even if it absorbed Ichigo's one into his being.

But the time was telling off was not upon them with the hollow still hungry, and needing to feast on some souls.

Rukia was hurt and could not cleanse the hollow.

Faced with the possibility of death or becoming one with the devilish hollow, Ichigo chose death or the inevitability of transforming himself into a powerful Death God when he shoved Rukia's Zanpakuto through his gut. He defeated the hollow effortlessly after emerging from a blinding light as a new man, no, _warrior. _

He was an ascended samurai.

He thought that was a dream since the next day neither Yuzu, Karin nor his father could remember the events that led to the hole in their home. They thought that a truck crashed through the house and miraculously left them alive.

It wasn't until Ichigo made it to school that day that he discovered it wasn't a dream and in all actuality Rukia had surrendered her powers to him that night and now she must rely on him to do her job, giving her enough time to regain her powers so she could return to the Soul Society.

That was four months ago. Ichigo had learnt a lot of what it meant to be a shinigami and made some… perverted comrades. He discovered that hollows were in reality earth bound spirits that held some resentment to a certain place in the world of the living and couldn't pass on, resulting in either their chains disappearing or hollows coming to them to fest on their souls, the end result was the same.

They would become hollows.

That happened to Orihime's older brother, bless him. Ichigo only recently figured out that the orange haired girl crying in his family clinic 4 or 3 years ago was her. Her hollow-transformed brother came back for her because according to Rukia, Hollows will go for the ones they loved the most when they were alive in a bid to fill the emptiness within their hearts.

Ichigo rescued Orihime and her brother that night by watching Orihime's brother, Sora, cleanse his own soul after the orange haired man had freed him from his possessed state by cracking his mask. That was the first time Ichigo realized he was actually helping hollows by hacking through their masks like a hot knife through butter.

He felt a sense of pride swell up inside of his chest and a heavy amount of responsibility fall onto his shoulders.

This was something he had to do. He just had to.

…Because if he didn't do it then no one else would.

xXx

(Two Hours Later)

Class had finished and Naruto had to stop behind to wait for Tukiyo, which got secretive whispers and small gossips from the other kids except for Karin and Yuzu. Most of them just concluded it to the fact that Naruto was a boy of many fights, and tardiness, there probably wasn't a day where he didn't get himself into a tussle before turning up late for school.

But it wasn't that.

No.

Naruto had brought along a cup of instant ramen and needed Tukiyo to take him to the teachers' lounge so he could get some boiling hot water from the kettle to make it. Despite her strictness with Naruto, Tukiyo really did adore Naruto, because round about four months ago, Tukiyo was in an abusive marriage. She kept coming into work trying to conceal her bruises by leaving her hair down and trying to put a smile on her beautiful face to hide her sadness.

But Naruto could see it was a fake smile since many times had the boy did the same thing. It was how he coped with the pain of loneliness knowing that barely a soul wanted anything to do with him back in the day, for something he did not ask for. The blond confronted Tukiyo after school-hours were over, and more or less demanded to know what was bugging her.

At first she was understandably miffed that a student was talking to her in such a way, until she caught a glimpse of sadness in his usual happy filled ocean blue eyes, and then the passion of his voice was heard by the woman as Naruto spoke how wrong it was that someone would put one's hands on her.

He was even more furious once she confessed that it was her husband and responded by flinging the woman over his shoulder, and charging through the door. It took a full thirty minutes of Tukiyo's screaming and sputtering to get Naruto to stop running around town like a headless chicken stupidly looking for a place he had no idea was at.

She would've taken him home but after the strength Naruto displayed in his little body by effortlessly carrying her around the city halted any rebuttal she might've had and she hopefully, but also begrudgingly, showed the boy to the home of her and her husband.

She wasn't disappointed upon seeing Naruto stomp her ex-husband a new one once he heard the first line that came out of the abusive man's mouth.

"_You stupid bitch, don't expect me to feed that kid." _Were the poor son of a bitch's words as Naruto turned him black and blue. And to the blond's credit he downplayed the significance of his own win after he threatened the man to never come near Tukiyo again. He never did as he didn't want neither his friends nor family finding out the fact he was taken to the cleaners by a small boy more than half his size.

Bullies were truly weak.

And Naruto had gotten himself a precious person.

That was why she had leniency with Naruto, and tried to do the best she could for him since he lived on his own.

Right now the boy contently hopped up the stairs to his favourite place in the whole school yard after leaving the teachers' lounge in a hurry, because Tukiyo told him that eating ramen all the time would stunt his growth and that he must eat horrible greens to grow a few inches. Who was she all of a sudden? His momma?

No.

She was the ramen-lady, enabling him to cook his instant ramen cups in the lounge for the senseis of the school.

Now Naruto could dig into the hot steamy ramen he was miraculously carrying with no hands as he had his hands stabbed into his pockets.

That didn't sound right.

"Wait just a minute." Naruto said pensively, opening the door to the rooftop upon reaching the top floor of the building, "Shouldn't I be holding my delicious ramen in my hand right now? Unless I've got lev-."

"Naru-kun!" Yuzu remarked brightly, pulling Naruto from his thoughts to see the girls sitting on their knees in the middle of the rooftop with their lunch boxes placed in front of them.

Naruto walked in, grinning widely, "Hi Yuzu-chan! Sup, Karin! Whatcha girls doin' here? Shouldn't you be down stairs with em girl-chums of yours?"

"Really, we still have to go through this every time we eat lunch with you?" Karin asked dryly, her dark eyes staring at Naruto, making him chortle. Karin Kurosaki was cool whereas Yuzu Kurosaki was a sweetheart. Naruto found it interesting that they were twins, but yet didn't look like each other and had different personalities. It made them unique to Naruto.

Karin's sarcasm and dry humour made him laugh unless her remarks were about him and his intelligence which usually put a smirk on the black haired girl's face seeing Naruto pout like a child. Yuzu's innocence was always win-win for Naruto, because he liked to be around nice people. The sweet ones like Yuzu kind of gave him a purpose as he felt like he had to protect the girl from anyone brave enough to bully her.

What Haku said about being needed really hit the nail on the head?

God bless _her_ soul.

"Don't be silly, Naru-kun. You're our chum too, ya know," Yuzu chirped.

"Yay, I guess so." Naruto laughed, walking forward to the girls to take his seat that made Yuzu raise her eyebrow.

"Guess you couldna waited until you made it up here to stuff your face full of noodles, eh Naruto," Karin remarked sardonically.

"What?" Naruto blinked. What was that her sarcasm? "I ain't eaten ramen yet." The deadpanned look from Karin and the sigh from Yuzu's mouth made Naruto widen his eyes as he grabbed his hair, "Damn it! I left it in the lounge again!" The golden haired retard stood up, and thunderously blasted through the door leading to the rooftops, getting bizarre looks from the two females at his almost unnatural display of pace before a loud crashing noise sounded out from the direction of the stairs.

"Ouchy," Naruto groaned.

"Oh no, Naru-kun!" Yuzu gasped, "I hope he's not hurt." Yuzu went on as she prepared to stand up, and check on the 50th or something accident Naruto had had.

"Don't worry, Yuzu. He's fine." Karin assured her twin sister in calm indifference to which Yuzu gave her a bit of a tentative hum in return, "It's not the first time Naruto has fallen down the stairs, and it won't be the last time I am sure of it." Karin reminded her, making her settle down and sit back on her knees.

"I guess you're right. He gets hurt a lot like daddy does," Yuzu spoke, opening up her lunch box to take out her apple juice.

"It's why the old man and Naruto get along so well." Karin said nonchalantly, receiving a nod and a hum from Yuzu who pried open her apple juice by sticking the straw into it and taking a sip from it. Isshin Kurosaki and Naruto Uzumaki got along swimmingly well when the old man would come around to his place to collect Yuzu who more often than not found herself at the home of Naruto to tend to the boy's needs like making him some food or bringing him some if there was enough left-over from the dinner she'd prepared for herself, her sister, her brother, and her father.

Yuzu did a lot for the boy whose incompetence was so high it even made Isshin feel pity for him. Naruto clearly hadn't had any parents during his childhood years, even if he didn't outright confess such; it was too obvious not to know. He had no manners and lacked the skills necessary for taking care of himself, such as cooking skills, cleaning skills, and how to pay his own bills.

You name it Naruto lacked it.

Naruto was the definition of an orphaned child.

Of course there was a little heated blood when Isshin first met Naruto, as overprotective father mode blazed powerfully around Isshin's body, but he quickly seen the boy's naivety, and instantaneously encouraged Yuzu and Naruto's friendship to stay strong.

Simple-minded boys like Naruto shouldn't be left on their own to fend for themselves.

He might burn down the hostel he lived in if he was left alone.

"You think onii-chan would like Naru-kun?" Yuzu asked. Ichigo more or less blanked his little sister every time she brought Naruto up to him. He would tell her it was nice that she'd friends to care for in a lackadaisical voice and stroll past her, leaving Yuzu pouting at her older brother's lack of interest in her social life.

Karin offered her twin sister a shrug of her shoulders, "Meh. Probably, you never know with Ichi-nii."

"Why don't we introduce them?" Yuzu suggested with a smile on her face.

"How?" Karin asked before thinking pensively, "You're thinking of bringing Naruto to that Spirit Hunter festival aren't you?"

"Yep!" Yuzu chirped before crossing her arms over her chest and laughing in good spirits, "I think Naru-kun would like it. He's not a stuck in the mud like you or onii-chan." Yuzu pouted in a good-natured manner at her twin sister Karin, making Karin roll her eyes.

"Or he might think it's a waste of time since he can see spirits perfectly well." Karin said, a bored look on her face while Yuzu puffed her left cheek out cutely.

"Well I guess there's only one way to find out then." Yuzu smiled optimistically, making Karin sigh. Why did Yuzu and Isshin have to like that cheesy event of some man claiming to see spirits? It was so lame to Karin and Ichigo it was untrue. Worse of all Isshin was going to drag her along for the ride and maybe Ichigo if he could.

"That would be your best bet I suppose." Karin mumbled and Yuzu nodded in agreement with Karin.

XxX

(With Naruto)

*Ping*

The speedster ran into the teachers' lounge to see the patiently waiting form of his teacher standing by the microwave while tapping her foot on the ground and looking at her watch.

"You remembered to come back for your food in two minutes this time." Tukiyo said and Naruto chuckled sheepishly, pushing his index fingers together.

"You know me well Tukiyo-sensei!" Naruto chirped while Tukiyo took his ramen from the microwave after reheating Naruto's instant ramen as it got a little cold after being left on the side by Naruto who was in rush to get away from her.

"Just like I know how you don't like anything green." Tukiyo confirmed matter-of-factly, making Naruto wince as a look of dread came over his face, "…How do you expect to grow if you don't eat your greens young man." She sighed, walking over to Naruto to hand him his ramen-cup which he gratefully took from her grasp.

"C'mon obaa-san, I'm not that short!" Naruto frowned, causing Tukiyo to cringe at the nickname.

"Tell you what if you stop calling me that I'll stop pestering you about eating ramen." The forty-five year old woman offered.

"DEAL!" Naruto agreed cheerfully, pivoting on his heels, "And I won't tell the others your true age of forty-five either Tukiyo-sensei!" Naruto assured her loudly, receiving an angry shake of the fist from his teacher who had flames emitting around her form that made Naruto scream as he paced out of the lounge while being mindful not to spill any of his hot steamy broth.

"He'll be back." Tukiyo stated with her arms crossed over her chest. "In one, two, three, four,-" She cut herself off as the blond's feet were quietly heard coming toward her direction before Naruto smiled sheepishly at her.

"…Uhhh. I left my chopsticks here." The forgetful boy told her.

The woman shook her head with a smile on her face as she reached to the side of the microwave and picked up a pair of chopsticks before dropping them in Naruto's ramen cup, "Try to be more aware of your surroundings, Naruto-san."

"You bet boss lady!" Naruto grinned toothily at her before walking out of the lounge with his mind already having forgotten why he stormed out in the first place. Good grief, it was of no wonder why he was so forgiving. He couldn't remember a damn thing. But despite all that Tukiyo was still fond of him.

"Naruto-san's a good boy…"

XxX

The boy made his way upstairs and onto the rooftop once again where he found his two lady friends still sitting on their knees waiting for him to arrive.

"Hey, how is it going you two? What brings ya here? Watching the clouds or something?" Naruto asked. Karin's stare of dryness reminded him what they were doing on the rooftop, "…Oh yeah. Never mind then. Hahahahahaha." Naruto chortled as he sat in between Yuzu and Karin.

"Good grief, you're so forgetful. You'll probably forget your own marriage or leave your wife at the airport if you ever get one." Karin said, opening her lunch box to eat her lunch now that Naruto was here to eat his.

A confused expression was on Naruto's face, "I have a wife?" He turned his head to look at Karin who recoiled in suppressed fury.

"Why are you looking at me for, idiot?!" Karin shouted and Naruto chuckled while a cringle of jealousy hit Yuzu's heart, but she didn't understand it. She just thought that Naruto should realistically think she was his wife as she logically done a lot for him that Naruto took for granted as he was too oblivious to see the importance of Yuzu's work for him.

"Haha! You're funny, Karin!" Naruto giggled before he settled down to dig into his ramen.

"Funny, or are you just insane whack-job?" Karin groused and got a nudge in her arm from Yuzu. Naruto missed the glare from Karin aimed at Yuzu as he contently started slurping his noodles.

"Oh, yeah, have you ever heard of a show called Spirit Hunter before Naru-kun?" Yuzu asked excitedly, receiving a groan from Karin that she ignored as Naruto turned his head to her with noodles trailing from his mouth. She abruptly giggled. He looked so adorable when he was eating.

Naruto tried to speak but his words came out muffled.

"Swallow before you speak Naruto." Karin told him and Naruto did just that.

"I was trying to say that sounds pretty cool. Do they like send spirits to heaven or something?" Naruto asked after taking in a huge breath of air.

"Yes, Naru-kun!" Yuzu confirmed enthusiastically, "Don-Kanonji defends the people by sending the spirits over to the other side. Isn't that amazing?"

"Badass!" Naruto cheered alongside Yuzu while Karin watched the two like they had grown second heads.

"My onii-chan will be there too. It'll be the perfect time for you to meet him." Yuzu smiled.

Naruto cupped his chin, "Oh yeah. You told me about that guy. How is he anyway? You girls didn't come into school last week." Yuzu had a sad look on her face.

"Yeah. Onii-chan's doing alright. Though, sometimes he can be a bit aloof." Yuzu said with Naruto hearing the sadness in her voice.

"Is everything okay? Does it have something to do with why you girls weren't here last week?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Oh it's nothing Naru-kun." Yuzu tried to brush it off with a forced smile on her face but Naruto was not to be fooled. He didn't pry into the matter anymore than that since it wasn't any of his business to know, "Anyway, Spirit Hunter will be performing right here in Karakura Town tonight. So Karin-chan and I figured you might want to come along and meet Ichigo-oniichan."

Naruto smiled hugely, "Alrighty! Sure! I'll come with you two and meet this strawberry-guy!" Karin cringed at that. Ichigo would kill him if he heard the boy calling him by the meaning of his name instead of his actual name.

"Wonderful!" Yuzu clapped her hands together, "I'm positive that you'll enjoy Spirit Hunter as much as daddy and myself do, Naru-kun." Naruto nodded and looked at Karin to see if she liked Spirit Hunter and she merely waved her hand dismissively that told Naruto not to ask. Naruto obliged and the three ate their lunches peacefully.

XxX

(Karakura High School – Rooftop – Ichigo – Chad – Keigo – Mizuiro – Rukia - Tatsuki - Orihime)

"Achoo!"

The friends of Ichigo turned to him as he sneezed absently while they all were enjoying their lunches on the rooftop of Karakura High School.

"Bless you Kurosaki-kun." Orihime said helpfully, making Ichigo grunt.

"Yeah. Thanks." Ichigo thanked her languidly, getting a smile from her as she resumed eating her lunch as normal while Ichigo attempted to divulge why he had the urge to stomp on a fishcake. 'Weird. I feel like I never want to so much as see another fishcake again.' It was probably just his instincts since he hated fishcakes anyway, 'Yeah. That's probably it.'

Little did Ichigo know he would be meeting a certain rowdy fishcake very soon.


	2. Ranma Moves On

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma.**

**AkanexRyoga pairing, anyone?**

* * *

**Spread Your Wings and Fly Away**

**Chapter one**

**Life Goes On**

"Ah. Another day, another penny earned I guess," Dryly grumbled a petite red-headed girl as she lazily sauntered away from a bar filled with enough perverted drunken men to fill a football stadium, each one of them lecherously whistling, and lasciviously peering at the retreating form of the red haired girl, "Geez. I'm so lucky, I apparently got myself my own fan-base."

The blue eyed, pigtailed girl let out a sigh, shouldering a brown sack bag over her shoulder and proceeding to waltz on home with a small chip on her shoulder. She sported a red silk Chinese-esque shirt, black baggy pants, and Chinese shoes on her feet.

The young girl's figure was womanly, her breasts were developing at much faster rate than most girls, a modest size of D-cup. She had baby blue coloured eye-liner around her eyes despite not coming off as the most feminine of girls.

Yes, Ranma Saotome was not what one would call the girlish of girls, since she... he wasn't born a girl, but a boy. Damn pops. He just had to force him to China where the two ignorantly treaded on the sacred grounds of the cursed springs, foolishly leaping on a couple of poles and seeing who could knock the other one into one of the springs first.

Of course if they had known the springs were cursed with the poor souls of which had drowned in them than Ranma and his father probably wouldn't have risked engaging in such a dangerous, but somewhat thrilling sparring match.

Such was Ranma's luck.

"Aiyaa!"

Ranma defensively raised her foot the moment a bike came dangerously close to landing on her face, easily stopping the wheel of the bike from smashing into her face and sending it and a bubbly blue haired girl crashing to the ground.

"Ow!" Ranma's impassive gaze shifted to a young girl of her age. Her blue hair fell to her back. Two strands of her hair framed her cheeks, two hair-buns was styled on top of her hair, her complexion was light, and her eyes were a light shade of purple. She sported a darkish pink Chinese shirt with matching trousers, and a pair of sandals on her feet.

"Shampoo," Ranma groused, her steely blue eyes locked on the form of the bubbly girl now known as Shampoo, rubbing her backside and making sure the package she had in her basket propped on the front of her bike wasn't damaged in anyway.

"Aiyaa! Ranma!" Shampoo said bubbly, looking up at girl-Ranma with two big purple lovey-dovey eyes, "You go out with Shampoo. Yes?"

Ranma couldn't help but roll her eyes. Damn Pops. Yet another consequence of going to China aside from getting cursed was having stumbled across an village inhabited by a tribe of females known as the Amazons, Shampoo being one of them.

Naturally at the time both Ranma and her father were in their cursed forms when they were led to the Amazon village by the guy who worked at the cursed springs of many drowned souls, people and animals alike. The two were frustrated having only recently been cursed, and naturally, frustration soon turned to hunger and Ranma and her animal-father found themselves digging into the first meal their eyes lay upon.

Unfortunately for them that particular meal just happened to be the prize in the tournament Shampoo was completing in at the time. Ranma-chan figured if she could defeat Shampoo, thus officially earning the grand feast for herself and her Pops than there wouldn't be a problem. How wrong her judgement turned out to be? Goddamn it…

After effortlessly seeing off Shampoo, the prideful Amazon-warrior planted the kiss of death on girl Ranma's lips, Mafia-esque, vowing by Amazon-law she'd track down Ranma, and kill her one way or the other, only doing a complete 360 upon finding out the truth – Ranma was actually a boy, the person of which had defeated Shampoo had only been in his cursed form.

Ah now that threw things for a loop, and Ranma wasn't sure if she (he) had preferred being targeted like she'd a freaking bounty on her head or persuaded like she (he) was a carnival prize. God damn Amazon-law. If a girl subdued an Amazon girl then that Amazon-warrior would have no choice but to hunt her down and murder her victorious opponent. However, if a male stood tall in a winning fashion over a Amazon-warrior than that male was to be wedded to the one who he'd defeated.

Annoying.

Just another fiancée Ranma would have to pry off of himself, which was made especially hard by Shampoo's grandmother, Cologne. The old ghoul had made audacious attempts to force Ranma to marry Shampoo, and help her keep the Amazon-tribe going strong by assisting Shampoo in the method of producing many babies. The old hag even went as far as to make girl Ranma's body _exponentially _sensitive to hot water by using the cat tongue on her so she couldn't turn back into a boy, and would hopefully lose the patience to be a girl longer, and would cave in and beg Cologne to be a boy again.

But anyone who knew the great Ranma Saotome-sama knew the big-cheese didn't give up without a fight. She won the right to be turned back into a guy by swallowing the phoenix pill she had required off of Cologne by pure determination and straight up doggedness.

"Hey, Shams," Ranma muttered distastefully, shaking her head as the Amazon-warrior picked herself up, propped the customer's order back in her basket, and sat on the seat of her bike, "Ain't you got anything better to do besides from stalking me like the paparazzi," Ranma quipped.

Shampoo tilted her head to the side in a cute manner, "Shampoo make delivery for great grandmother."

"Whoopee doo to you," Ranma grumbled.

"Then Shampoo come back to marry Ranma," Shampoo smiled in an optimistic fashion.

"I ain't marrying you Shams," Ranma groused in a dry manner.

"Why girl Ranma be mean to Shampoo?" Shampoo questioned, a pout of irritation evident on her features, "That mean old Akane be sauce (source) of Ranma's pain. No? She force Ranma's hand in marriage. Yes?"

"It ain't that Shams, and you and I both know it," Ranma griped. In truth Ranma hadn't spoken to Akane since Ranma had called off the engagement. A potential marriage filled with nothing but arguments was not a healthy one, and both Akane and Ranma knew that.

A marriage like that would've left both Akane and Ranma stressed and very much unhappy. The two martial artists knew that deep down in their heart of hearts. Even still it was hard Ranma to see her how hurt Akane had been by his refusal to go along with the engagement.

"Shampoo!" Ranma let out a sigh at the joyous cheer of a young boy, letting out a few snickers at the sight of a short-sighted boy galloping past him and Shampoo, and ensnaring a lamp post possessively, "Oh Shampoo, I'm happy you finally decided to return my affections!"

Ranma snickered at the fuming Shampoo, "That not Shampoo, you stupid Mousse!" Shampoo glared at her fellow Amazon-warrior now identified as Mousse.

"Huh?" Mousse let out in a dumbed manner, adjusting the round thick glasses on top of his forehead and pulling them down over his eyes, "Oh!" Mousse turned around, his eyes narrowing at the bane of his existence in the form of the red headed girl.

"Ranma how dare you! Even as a girl you still pursuit my precious Shampoo! You're sick Saotome!" Mousse's long black shoulder-length hair angrily swayed like a whip hitting a raging bull. His white diamond-patterned robe rattled as he raised his arm to reveal his fist hiding in his long sleeve. His blue pants shook as he used his black shoes to gallop his way to Ranma to deliver a dose of righteous fury.

Like a magician pulling stuff outta his hat, Mousse expertly whipped out a long solid steely gleaming weapon from his sleeve, spinning around like a propeller, the sharp edges of Mousse's weapon looking well and truly sharpened. So much so the blades on the end of Mousse's weapon sliced through Ranma, strangely leaving the top half of Ranma's body floating above the lower half of her body, the mid section of Ranma's body inexplicably disappeared.

"Huh?" Mousse wondered, a blur of red and black slowly fading out of his sight, "I… won?" He began to tear up, "I won! I defeated Saotome and freed Shampoo! Now she'll ju-." The air left Mousse's lungs, followed by drips of saliva and enough blood to fill up a cup; the cause of the boy's pain was a light skinned small fist wedged in his tummy, "W-what?"

"Jeez wiz Mr slowpoke, I've seen snails moving faster than you," Ranma quipped lackadaisically, purging her fist from Mousse's gut and allowing the boy to collapse onto his knees, glaring up at Ranma in defiance, "Didya really thunk I would just idly stand by and admire my nails while ya nail me eh?"

"Grrr." Mousse growled.

"You stupid Mousse!" Shampoo said harshly, causing both Ranma and Mousse to cringe with the latter also wincing from the object of his affections berating him in a icily cold manner, "You no beat Ranma, he too good for you! Mousse should just quit and go home!"

'Ouch, aim a little lower why don't ya,' Ranma remarked mentally.

'Oh Shampoo, why won't you return my affections I've held so dear for you?' Mousse mused pitifully, his mind replaying all of his attempts to win Shampoo's love which resulted in him being on the receiving end of a thrashing from his beloved Shampoo, "…Shampoo."

Shampoo turned away from Mousse, her arms crossed over her chest and a grimace on her beautiful features, "Bad Mousse! Shampoo no like you! Shampoo like Ranma!" The bespectacled boy's head lowered, letting out soft growls of frustration while Shampoo smiled pleasantly at the mention of Ranma, "You walk with Shampoo. Ran-?" Shampoo's question ended there; her eyes blinking at the vacant spot once preoccupied by the redhead.

"…Ranma disappear?"

XxX

Several blocks away, the redhead appeared in an immense dash of strong wind, standing highly on the roof of a tall four story high apartment complex, a pout of irritation evident on her features.

"Man ain't she got nuthin' better to do other than runnin' around chasin' me all day?!" Ranma wondered, kicking the air as if it would release her rage. This was one of the reasons why she'd called off the engagement to Akane – in the futile hopes it would end the blind, ignorant girls' trivial attempts of marrying her.

Apparently, it hadn't done the trick. No. It gave them renewed hope that they could somehow convince Ranma to marry them. Damn it. Life sucked, with a capital S!

A sigh escaped Ranma's lips, her feet pivoting her around and leading her to the door of the rooftop, "Lady lucky and I ain't on speaking terms," Ranma grumbled wittily, releasing another sigh while opening the door to the rooftop and venturing into the building. Perhaps a kickass movie and some popcorn could cheer her up.

XxX

"Now where am I?" A black haired boy wondered, glancing around his surrounding in clear confusion. He sported a V-neck dark yellow t shirt underneath a long-sleeved yellow jumper, a cheetah-esque striped dark yellow bandanna wrapped tightly around his head, black trousers, a backpack strapped on his back with a red thick umbrella sheathed across the straps of his bag, yellow wristbands, dark green trousers, and wooden sandals on his feet.

"Ohhhh. Why must my luck be so tainted?" The boy anguished, "And just when I had worked up a little courage to put my feelings in a letter for Akane-chan." The mention of the aforementioned girl made the boy's heart clench and he fisted his hand, "Oh Akane-chan, if only you knew how I felt about you, but-." He trailed off, a picture of a smirking black haired boy flashing through his mind, causing him to gnash his teeth in fury.

"_Saotome_!" He murmured forcefully, and unmercifully, "How dare you treat Akane-chan like she ain't a goddess! You don't deserve her!" After a moment, the boy felt the anger drain out of him, leaving a pitiful expression on his features, "Oh Akane-chan… If only, if only I had the courage to tell you how I feel," His eyes closed, his fist loosening, and his fingers falling freely.

"…But you'll never see me as anything more but your pet P-chan," He whispered, recalling all the times he'd been splashed and forcefully turned into his cursed form, only to get cuddled by the ignorant Akane. It made him sick to his stomach how he could use the beautiful, innocent girl's ignorance to his advantage, but he was desperate; desperate to be loved, desperate to feel the warm touch of a woman, desperate to see a caring woman smiling at him, and treating him like he was a god among men.

_Saotome_…!

It was all that ingrate's fault! If he never stole the lost boy's sandwiches, if he would stop tormenting the lost boy, stop teasing, stop belittling him in front of his dear Akane-chan, then maybe the lost boy could have his own happiness! His own happy life! One without seeing the annoying cheeky grin plastered on his rival's face as he flipped off of his head or fooled him into falling into water, thus activating his Jusenkyo curse!

It was all Ranma's fault!

"CURSE YOU SAOTOME!"

"Oh Ryoga-kun, how nice it is to see you?"

"Eep," The boy, Ryoga Hibiki, squeaked in surprise at the call of a sweet feminine voice. Turning around, Ryoga's eyes grew wide at the sight before him, 'I…I made it to the Tendo-Dojo,' Ryoga realized, an audible gasp escaping his lips. Well he did want to be here for one reason or the other, but he wasn't expecting to come so soon.

Sometimes Ryoga had to wonder was his directional curse really just that: a curse or a blessing?

The demure teenage girl became concerned at Ryoga's faraway look, "Is everything alright, Ryoga-kun?" Her long brown hair hung freely to her back, kept in a ponytail by a blue hair-scrunchy, her brown eyes peered into Ryoga's curiously, her loose baby blue coloured dress highlighted her light complexion, and her sandals picked up dust as she shifted in place; a small brown basket held in her hands.

Ryoga snapped out of his stupor, his hand reaching behind his head and massaging it in a sheepish manner, "O-oh… I, you know, just stopped by to see how Ranma was doing?" Now why on earth would he say that? Ryoga knew damn well he wasn't here to see that jerk Ranma. However he wasn't confident enough to admit he had a crush on the youngest Tendo daughter of Soun.

The well-mannered woman offered Ryoga a small smile, "Oh my, that's very thoughtful of you, Ryoga-kun, But I'm afraid-," Her smile faded out, a now sorrowful look masking her face and betraying her normally happy and docile demeanour, "Ranma-chan no longer lives here?"

"Huh?" A deer-in-the-headlights look appeared on Ryoga's features, his head dropping to the ground and his surprised expression giving way for one of contemplation, 'If Ranma no longer lives here, then maybe I've got a chance with Akane-chan!' Ryoga looked up again at the woman, now sporting a mask of resolution.

"What happened Kasumi-san? Why'd Ranma move out for? Isn't he engaged to Akane-chan?" Ryoga asked. Silently, secretly, he hoped the answer would be they wasn't engaged anymore, as much as he knew, deep down, it'd upset his dear and precious Akane-chan. The beautiful blue haired girl was a goddess to Ryoga, and Ryoga knew with confidence that she deserved better than Ranma. She ought to be with Ryoga!

The eldest sibling shook her head regretfully, "That poor thing, she hasn't left her room since Ranma-chan called off the engagement."

Ryoga was now gaping like a fish, "Ranma called off the engagement."

Kasumi nodded her head sadly, "Yes. Akane's very sad. Every-time she comes home from school she resigns herself to her room and doesn't leave for the remainder of the day."

Ryoga lowered his head, 'Akane.' He fisted his hands, 'Ranma you jerk! Can't you see you're hurting Akane-chan? Grrr. Why do you have to be so selfish?' Ryoga looked up, "I-is…" He swallowed a nervous lump in his throat, "Is… is Akane-chan in her room now?"

Kasumi offered the lost-boy another smile, "Yes. I believe she's doing her homework. Poor thing, she still tries her hardest to study, and get good high grades in school." Kasumi smiled, shifting her hands, and causing the basket in her grip to wobble.

"Hehe." Ryoga laughed, 'That's my Akane-chan, always so brave, strong-willed, and beautiful-.' Ryoga shook his head, he had to stop thinking like that. Looking to change the subject, Ryoga saw the basket in Kasumi's grip, "What's in the basket Kasumi-san?"

Kasumi gasped as if she had completely forgotten about the object in her grip before smiling again at Ryoga, "Oh, just some things for Ranma-chan." Looking at the boy's clueless expression she decided to elaborate for him to comprehend, "Ranma-chan has gotten himself a little apartment. I thought I would bring him something to eat."

"Oh." Ryoga nodded in understanding.

"Would you like to come with me to Ranma-chan's place? I'm sure he'd really appreciate it." Kasumi offered gently.

"No, no, I have… stuff to do," Ryoga lied in a bashful manner.

Kasumi smiled, "Okay," she bowed slightly, "It was nice talking to you, Ryoga-kun."

"Yeah. Same here." Kasumi smiled one last time and made her way to Ranma's home, Ryoga waving at her as she did. Once she was out of sight Ryoga lowered his arm, an angry expression masking his features, "Damn it Saotome! You've hurt Akane! Why must you be so insensitive, you damn ingrate!" Ryoga took a deep breath, trying to school his emotion as best as he could, but at lest it was no good. The lost boy could feel his temper bubbling up, like a volcano just waiting to erupt.

Then he finally exploded in a fit of immense rage.

"SAOTOME PREPARE TO DIE!"

* * *

Speed

1. Happosai - Massively Hypersonic plus

2. Cologne - Massively Hypersonic Plus

3. Girl-Ranma - Hypersonic plus - Boy Ranma - Hypersonic

4. Genma - Hypersonic

5. Soun - Hypersonic

6. Ryoga - Hypersonic


	3. Ichigo the Shaman

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Shaman King. **

* * *

_**The world of the living or just generally plain old earth to those who did not live within the radius of the Soul Society, a place where all dead souls go if they happened to die within Northern Japan as the world was a huge place and the Soul Society couldn't purify all humans, as they were an ungodly amount of human beings within the world. **_

_**No. They were only one set of warriors known as shinigami within a portion of the world as a whole.**_

_**They weren't perfect by any means of the imagination.**_

_**Instead Southern Japan was populated by a different breed of warriors. There was a tribe of supernatural beings that could summon souls from the spirit world or could even send them there if they found any souls wandering around the world. The other supernatural beings from that section of the world were actual swordsmen/fighters. And those kinds of warriors (humans) known as Shamans chose the partner (spirit) that they were destined to battle with as the two would complement each other for all eternity, until the human died. However the shinigami(s) within Northern Japan actually had their partners born within their souls if one inherited the blood from one's parent who in return would've to inherit that warrior-blood from one's own parent and so on and so forth. **_

_**The interesting thing was that the shinigami(s) within Northern Japan **__**had humans who also gained supernatural powers, but fought nothing like the shamans from the Southern side of Japan as they fought with bows and arrows, not swords. Then again Southern Japan just wasn't crawling with the heartless beings that went around looking for human souls to feast on.**_

_**But this didn't mean that the two beings of a higher-dimensional plane field wouldn't clash and shake the world for all its worth. **_

* * *

_A vibrating sound followed by a ringing noise reverberated throughout a small three bedroomed house inhabited by a beautiful woman with long orange hair, her husband, and three children of which two were female twins and one was the star of the story whom happened to be the oldest children of the wife's and husband's three children. _

"_Ah! Someone's calling us! I shall get it!" An exuberant roar of a tall muscular man's voice drummed on the very air itself like drummers on a drum. His short black spiky hair stood upward and seemed to defy gravity itself as his onyx coloured eyes danced with mirth within them at the prospect of answering the call to find out it was one of his friends. _

_He had stubble and slight sideburns. His attire consisted of a long white trench coat falling to his ankles that looked more like a bigger version of Dexter's lab coat from Dexter's Laboratory, and his appearance was complete with an orange Hawaii shirt and black trousers. _

_This was Isshin Kurosaki, the husband of one of the most beautiful women in the city of Karakura Town: Masaki Kurosaki. He worked as a doctor to bring in ends-meat for his family, and he always tried to cheer them up with his shenanigans and goofy demeanour. He was a decent man if he did say so himself. _

_Isshin picked up the phone and answered it exuberantly, "Welcome friend! Never be shy to saunter on down to the home of the Kurosakis!"_

"_I might just have to take you up on that invite old friend__." Isshin's grin widened at the all too familiar voice he had come to know in all his years living within the world of the living. _

"_Kisuke Urahara." Isshin announced, grinning, "How's it been old chum? Ya know you and Tessai should c'mon down here for tea sometime. I'm sure the wife and our children would love to see ya both. Who knows?"_

"_That we may do Isshin-kun… That we may do." __Kisuke said earnestly before deciding to get down to business, "__I've detected strong reiatsu leaking out of your home Isshin__."_

_Isshin scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner, "Well, shucks, I didn't realize I was already regaining my rei-."_

"_No. It isn't coming from you." __Came Kisuke's calm denial that immediately made Isshin flinch as fear welled up inside of his eyes. Could it be coming from Masaki? No. She lost her powers only recently. It couldn't be coming from Yuzu and Karin because the ability to see ghosts past over their generation completely. That just left-…_

"_It's coming from your son. And a mass amount of it." __Kisuke elucidated with his voice betraying none of his emotions. He could sense the reiryoku just oozing off of Ichigo in spades!_

"_Damn it!" Isshin hissed quietly, "How much reiryoku are we talking about here?"_

"_About captain-level if I'm being perfectly honest with you." __Isshin gasped at that. _

"_That means hollows'll be all over him."_

"_Precisely." __Kisuke agreed. "__But not to worry, dear friend, for I have created a new kido that could be very beneficial to your son Ichigo. It'll keep the hollows away from him that's for sure__." Kisuke grinned. _

_Isshin's eyes widened, "You're not joking right? This kido spell of yours can really assure that my boy won't be targeted by hollows?"_

"_Yes. Ichigo's reiryoku will be that of a unseated officer once I cast this kido spell on him. You could think of the reiryoku restrictor along the lines of a special suit of armour that'll seal off a vast majority of Ichigo's reiryoku and strengthen that portion of his powers exponentially. I would say once the reiryoku restrictor comes off, Ichigo'll have the reserves of three captains put together!"_

_Isshin almost had a heart attack as he laughed uproariously, "I always knew my boy had it in him to be extremely strong! You should see him go in karate class; he smacks those other kids around like they're nothing!"_

"_I can imagine." __Kisuke said tentatively, sweat-dropping, "__So can you bring Ichigo around here later tonight for me to place the kido spell on him Isshin?__"_

"_Of course, of course!" Isshin agreed frantically, "I'll take him to karate class first and come around your place afterward to get a better look at this kido spell for myself, after that I'll pick up Ichigo and bring him around to yours, sound good?"_

"_Yes. See you soon Isshin."_

"_Back at cha Kisuke-kun!"_

_With the conversation finished between the lads, Isshin hang up the phone with a thoughtful look on his face. Usually his wife Masaki took Ichigo to karate class, but today of all days Isshin had to get off of his lazy ass and assure that his son was safe at all costs. He'd do that because he was Ichigo's father, and that what fathers do after all. _

"_I'll see to it that you're safe… son."_

* * *

**An Unexpected Turn in Life **

**Chapter 1**

**Tragedy Strikes the Kurosaki Family like Lightning**

"Ichigo-chan, are you ready to attend karate class?"

A kind angelic voice echoed throughout a small house inhabited by a family of five. A beautiful orange haired lady with cream-skin stood at the bottom of the stairs with her hand cupping her mouth calling for her nine year old son to be ready for karate-class. Her pink bosom hugged her skin and emphasized her hour-glass figure that swayed from side to side, giving a mesmerizing view of her rear-end to any observers watching her.

Her chocolate brown skirt fell to her ankles, covering her long smooth legs that could've helped her complete in a basketball game if she wanted to. And her amazing appearance was completed by the loose-fitting high-heels on her feet.

"Be down in a minute mom, I just gotta find my belt." The voice of a young boy known as Ichigo Kurosaki echoed from upstairs, making the woman now known as his mother shake her head with a smile on her face.

"Don't take too long son. Your friend Tatsuki-chan'll find another partner to spar with if we don't show up soon ya know." Ichigo's mother said to somewhat tease her son, and it worked as an embarrass sputter sounded out from upstairs, making the smile on his mother's face widen.

That smile soon disappeared as her mouth opened in a shock gasp as the woman found her waist ensnared by two strong arms, "Ohh! Is my dear Masaki torturing our little Ichigo again?"

The woman now known as Masaki giggled softly before a moan of pleasure escaped her lips as the man sank his teeth onto her ear like a bunny rabbit, "Isshin! Our daughters are in the living room watching TV ya know." She seemingly scolded Isshin as the feel of his little nibbles on her ear was too irresistible to ignore.

She grinded her hips against his private parts, and jumped in surprise at the hardness of it. Isshin gained a sheepish grin on his bearded face, "Ah. The boys are feeling a little solid down there! Haha!"

The woman sighed at the man's behaviour, though she couldn't keep the smile from spreading across her face. This was her husband Isshin Kurosaki. He'd saved her from a rare virus of sorts at the cost of something dear, and his powers were a last no more. Where he came from would not accept what he did for the woman with long orange hair, but he did not care.

To him he was only returning the favour to the orange haired woman.

Isshin's face suddenly got serious, "I just got off of the phone with Kisuke." Masaki's eyes widened at the name of the man who assisted Isshin in curing her of the virus that threatened to wipe her out. "He says Ichigo's reiatsu is beginning to leak out." He whispered into her ear, making her gasp.

This was something that both had greatly worried about. They knew that they were descendants of higher beings, one were humans whom developed supernatural powers and were able to utilize that potential known as reiryoku (spirit energy) and turn it into great power which was known as reiatsu (spiritual pressure), on the contrary the beings of Isshin's tribe could also utilize their reiryoku and turn it into tremendous reiatsu.

The other was not even human… per say, in the sense that Isshin died and was reborn up in heaven where he trained in an academy to become an ascended samurai-like warrior that went around purifying monsters without hearts.

The man's very being consisted of reishi (spirit particles) which could be used to walk on the very air itself. In fact the only reason he could be seen was because of his good friend Kisuke Urahara whom made him an artificial body known as a gigai so humans could interact with him and he could blend into the human-world without having to face the consequences of his actions.

Ichigo was a mixture of two powerful tribes his mother and father originated from. It was an extreme rarity for one to inherit the powers of both tribes from one's parents, hence why the other two children had not even the ounce of reiryoku within their systems, something that the two were thankful for. It was probably due to the fact that they were twins, and so it seemingly skipped their generation.

Either way, the two were thankful that their daughters didn't obtain any powers from them so they could live normal lives (life's). Ichigo, however, for all intents and purposes, would not be living a normal life as the monsters that the race of warriors Isshin was a descendant from slayed would be hunting for the boy to gain that abnormal power within him.

Masaki bit her top lip, "What are we going to do about Ichigo-chan?"

Isshin laughed in a goofy manner, "Oh don't you worry about that dear! Just leave that to me! Your lab coat wearing knight in shining white armour shall see to it that our son is well-protected!" A small giggle reverberated from around the corner while a sigh followed after it, signalling that the two five year old girls had heard their father.

He was probably rambling incoherently like he always did (to the twins), but Masaki knew her husband better than that. And she thanked him with a kiss on the cheek for the way he always tried to lighten the mood even if it meant making himself look like a clown in front of his children.

"Thank you Isshin. Sometimes I forget why I married you." Masaki said with an affection smile on her face.

Isshin had his arms crossed over his chest and a big grin on his face. "Well I'm not perfect my dear."

Masaki put her hands on his chest, "You're close enough my love." She giggled.

Isshin scratched his cheek bashfully before getting down to business once again, "I'll take Ichigo to karate class today, you stay here and prepare some of that wonderful cooking you make so well my dear." Masaki rolled her eyes and playfully hit her husband in his arm.

"My hero, eh?" Masaki asked jestingly, making Isshin laugh before his eyes narrowed and his serious demeanour was on show once again.

"Kisuke's planning to put a reiryoku restrictor on Ichigo. He said it would restrict Ichigo's reiatsu to that of a unseated officer while continuously strengthening the portion of power its holding back from Ichigo so hollows won't see fit to devour him. Bottom-line is once the reiryoku restrictor comes off, Ichigo could've the reiatsu of three captains put together!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Blinking and gaping was all Masaki could do after she heard that. She knew her baby boy had a tremendous amount of reiryoku for a small boy of only nine years old, but to know he could have the power of three captains blended together, well, that was a frightening thought.

Their musings of Ichigo and his potential were broken by the sound of footsteps descending (down) the stairs, "I'm ready, mom." The boy was short with a mop of orange spiky hair, his eyes were hazel, and his smile could light up the universe with its radiance. He wore a karate gi-top with a yellow belt, white gi bottoms, and black sandals on his feet.

Inexplicably, Isshin gleamed.

"Were you tw-."

"YOU'RE LATE… ICHIGOOOOOOO!"

Isshin soared towards Ichigo who was still on the third step of the stairs with a flying-kick, receiving a sigh out of Ichigo who amazingly leap-frogged into the air the moment his father got within reach of him and tremendously stomped his feet into the taller man's stomach, making blood fly from Isshin's mouth as his back harshly slammed off of the stairs before he rolled to a painful stop by his wife's feet.

Masaki had a look of amusement on her face while two set of little feet came stomping their way, "What's happened!?" A little girl with light brown hair falling to her shoulders asked frantically as she looked at her injured father worriedly with her brown orbs for eyes. She wore a yellow dress and brown socks.

"Mommy, what happened to daddy?" The brown haired girl asked as she sauntered over to Masaki and tugged on her skirt.

Masaki smiled down at the girl, "Don't worry, Yuzu-chan. He was just playing with Ichigo-chan again." Ichigo frowned at his mother use of the honorific for him but didn't speak up as the black haired girl smirked at him.

"It seems like it was more than just playing." The black haired girl grinned. Her eyes were dark as she wore a red t shirt, black shorts, and white socks on her feet. "Ichi-nii beat up the old man there like he was nothing."

"Karin-chan!" Her twin sister scolded her.

Karin shrugged, "What? It's true."

"But you'll make daddy feel bad!" Yuzu resorted before Isshin jumped up to his feet with his hands on his hips.

"Ohhh! There's no need to worry about your old man my precious little girl!" Isshin assured and Yuzu smiled at her father. Isshin looked at Ichigo, "Those were some good moves my boy, I can't wait to see you in action at karate class."

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow, "I thought mamma was taking me to karate-class."

Isshin wagged his finger chidingly, "Can't an old man spend some time with his son? You never know what could happen in the future. Who knows how long we'll all be together." He explained jestingly, getting a nudge in the arm from Masaki as the girls tilted their little heads to the side.

"What does daddy mean by that?" Yuzu asked.

"Oh. He means nothing. He's just joking around. Aren't you Isshin?" Masaki asked expectantly, a sickly sweet smile on her face that hid her malevolence from her children as it bared heavily on the shoulders of a nervous Isshin.

"Haha! Of course! Of course! Your old man likes to joke around ya know!" Isshin assured the girls frantically, waving his arms around to stop his wife from killing him. Yuzu giggled softly while Ichigo and Karin rolled their eyes.

"…Oh brother." Ichigo sighed.

XxX

(Later)

XxX

Tripe aside: Ichigo accepted his dad taking him to karate-class and was venturing to karate class with his father in tow right now, the two walking through an alleyway as the sun started to sink from the sky, bathing the sky in a shiny orange colour that blended into Ichigo's carrot top hair very nicely.

As Ichigo and Isshin continued to near karate-class, Ichigo turned his head to glance at a ghostly-figure of a seemingly old man that made him sigh. It wasn't the first time he had seen these hologram-like humans, and it made him curious as to why he could see them when no one at his school could.

"Hey, dad." Ichigo tapped his father's arm.

"So you can see him." Isshin's serious voice surprised Ichigo as his father did not even look at the ghostly figure leaning against the wall. "He's a spirit son."

"Spirit?" Ichigo wondered in confusion, "Like in ghosts that should be living in heavens, kinda spirits."

"Yes."

"Then why can I see 'em. When I ask the kids at my school if they can see those ghostly humans they think I'm telling some sort of joke." Ichigo explained with a frown on his face.

Isshin grinned widely, "That's because you have something known as reiryoku my boy, and a mass amount of it."

"Reiryoku? What's that?" The little boy's curiosity was getting the better of him now.

"It's something only special humans have. It lays within your very essence son. I myself once had it, but it sadly died out of my system as I continued to get older in life. Not everyday has this special trait Ichigo, for example your baby sisters don't have any sign of reiryoku as they haven't ever mentioned seeing spirits like you have son. This is because it skipped their generation entirely," Isshin lied while Ichigo looked up with a look of contemplation on his face as they started strolling alongside a slope leading to a river stream, "Unfortunately, you having so much reiryoku leaves you valuable to beings who want to eat you for that power." Ichigo wasn't ready to learn about his inheritance just as yet.

Ichigo grinned toothily, "I dunno about that old man! I'm pretty tough myself, ya know!"

Isshin chuckled, "Yeah you're pretty tough alright." Isshin suddenly stopped and bent down to his son's level who blinked at his father, "And you're gonna be even tougher." Isshin's expression turned grave, "Listen son, this is very serious. Your power could attract some dangerous beings that could potentially harm your sisters. It's because of this is why you will have a reiryoku restrictor placed upon you."

"Reiryoku restrictor?" Ichigo questioned as he blinked a couple of times, "What's that?"

Isshin gestured for Ichigo to start walking to which he did, "It's like a suit of armour that'll seal off a good deal of your reiryoku so the monsters that eat powerful humans with large amounts of reiryoku will stay away from you since the amount of reiryoku you have won't be enough to sate them. The reiryoku sealed off from you will strengthen over time and once you remove the reiryoku restrictor you'll be extremely powerful my son."

Ichigo nodded dumbly. He had no idea what his father was talking about, but he would take his word that he just wanted to see to it that Ichigo was safe. Add to the fact Ichigo did not want to put his family in danger because of an incomprehensible power within him that could draw monsters to him.

"Okay dad. I'll trust you on this. Don't let me down." Ichigo said and Isshin smiled as Ichigo turned his head to look down the slope and saw a little girl looking hard at the ocean with something of a depressed expression on her face, 'What's she doing there?'

"C'MON SON! LET'S PICK UP THE PACE AND GO!" Isshin yelled as he placed his hands on Ichigo's back and began pushing him to karate class, making him sigh as he momentarily took his eyes off of the girl and paced toward karate class.

'She'll be fine.'

xXx

"Oh, hey, Ichigo-chan, what's up?" A girl asked once Isshin and Ichigo made it into a decently sized room with brown woodened flooring, a huge mirror alongside the wall, and a tall man wearing a black gi with a black belt tied around his waist standing in the centre of the room. Surprisingly, Ichigo did not frown when the girl added the 'chan' suffix to his name. This was because they'd been friends ever since Ichigo was first enrolled into nursery, and because the girl's parents were on good terms with Ichigo's, the two ended up attending the same Junior school.

The way his momma called him "Ichigo-chan" was obviously meant to baby him.

"Hi. It's good to see you Tatsuki." Ichigo greeted with a smile on his face. The girl was wearing the same gi as Ichigo, only she'd a red belt on instead to signal she was of a lower rank than Ichigo in terms of karate. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

Tatsuki nodded her head contently and looked at Ichigo's smiling father curiously, "Where's your mother? Doesn't she normally drop you off?"

"Yeah. But apparently my old man here had a chore for me to do afterwards or something around those lines." Ichigo explained mysteriously as his long-time friend from nursery times blinked in utter confusion.

"Well I see you don't need me Ichigo-boy!" Isshin spoke up exuberantly, getting Ichigo to nod as Isshin bent down to whisper something in his ear, "I'll pick you up later, and then we'll head to Kisuke's to place that reiryoku restrictor on you." Ichigo's grunt was all the affirmation he needed before he stood up and bid his only son a goodbye with a pat on his shoulder.

"What'd your father ask you Ichigo?" Tatsuki asked in curiosity, but Ichigo waved his hand dismissively.

"It doesn't matter, Tatsuki." Tatsuki pouted at Ichigo, but Ichigo only grinned carelessly at her while scratching the side of his cheek.

"Well it looks like I'll have to beat that info outta you Ichigo!" Tatsuki assured, punching her two fists together in a challenging manner.

"Okay. We'll see about that." Ichigo said in a humble manner before the teacher assembled the rest of the students to line up in four rows of twenty, all wearing either yellow or red belts around their waists.

"I'm pleased that you could all make it to class. We'll be continuing where we all left off last week." Ichigo's sensei said and the kids including Ichigo all bowed once in a show of respect to the man that was teaching them how to defend themselves.

xXx

(With Isshin)

Isshin was making his way to Kisuke's place before he pulled out his phone to ring his blond haired friend he had known since he came from the Soul Society, a place where all human souls go after death and even become warriors of a higher being to any and all humans. Isshin wouldn't be going back there now though. Even know he offered his very powers to assure that Masaki lived it was still against the rules of the Soul Society to surrender one's powers to any human or human-related matters.

Isshin was just glad that his gigai blocked out his reiatsu-signature (small as it was) and turned him into a mere human (more or less), otherwise the Soul Society would find him and massacre him like a limb to the slaughter-house.

'C'mon Kisuke, I don't have all day.' Isshin stressed as he kept his phone pressed against his ear and heard the ringing of it while he walked along the slope he and son had walked across to get to Karate-class.

"_Ah, Isshin-kun, my good man, how are you tonight_?" Came the good-natured voice of Kisuke over the other line. "_I take it you've dropped your son off at karate class, huh_?"

"Yes. I'm walking towards your place now." Isshin told his friend. "I hope that reiryoku restrictor of yours is safe for my boy, ya' know. It's a father job to see to it that his son is well-protected from all threats after all!"

"_Of course, of course. A fine job you do at that my friend_." Kisuke agreed calmly, "_You should not worry, as I am a mere humble shopkeeper with a somehow decently sized brain to invent new things_." For some reason Isshin had the strange feeling that his friend was grinning widely and covering that huge smile with his trademark fan.

"Alrighty then! I'm on my way, since my boy won't be finished karate class for a couple of hours I might as well chill with the boys down at the cand-." Isshin stopped his line of thought as his eyes locked onto the form of the girl his son had noticed earlier still standing in the same place as if she were glued to the spot.

Kisuke decided to finish the doctor's line for him, "_Ohhhh! So the former shinigami's gonna grace this little stop with his presence alone, eh? I'm honoured you'd come down here Isshin-kun_." Isshin didn't respond as he lowered his head and eyed the girl by the river intently, swearing to himself that she was slowly falling in. Whether it was deliberate or not, the black haired doctor did not know.

"Why is she standing there?" Isshin murmured to himself, but the phone was still attached to his ear, hence Kisuke heard him as clear as day.

"_Who's standing where_?" A sly smirk formed on Kisuke's features, "_Are you doing the business with your wife? How dirty of you. No wonder she won't move from the spot she's standing at_." Still no response would come from the black haired man as he carefully treaded down the slope and onto the river stream as if he were being pulled towards the girl by a magnetic force.

"AH! I didn't mean to disturb you. It's just that you look troubled so I thought I could help you." Isshin chuckled in a bid to lighten the mood as he stood directly behind the girl and was oblivious to the barbarous breathing coming from somewhere in the air. The black lightning that inexplicably flashed throughout the sky made Isshin flinch as the girl calmly stayed in place.

"Well that was an odd occurrence wasn't it?" Isshin chuckled.

The girl did not grace him with a reply, making Isshin face-fault before he quickly regained his defiance with a glint shining in his eye.

xXx

(Elsewhere – Location Unknown)

At a small corner shop located on the edge of town near the cemetery was a blond, bleached haired man sitting in seiza with a phone resting by his ear. His messy bangs covered his eyes slightly, as the bangs of his hair were seen hanging out of the green striped hat he'd on his head. He had pale skin and was a fairly tall man with decently sized muscles, not overly so.

He wore a dark green trench coat over a lighter green kimono top complete with baggy green kimono trousers, a white sash tied around his waist and geta sandals on his feet with a brown wooden walking cane in his hand.

The goofy man's face immediately turned serious as no response came from his equally goofy friend, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"What is it Urahara-dono?" A masculine voice asked before a huge bespectacled man came walking into the living room with a tray on his tan-skinned hand with two cups of tea placed upon it. His black hair was cornrowed as the end of his hair was braided into a ponytail reaching (to) his upper back to match his long and thick moustache. He wore a plain white muscle shirt underneath a long dark blue apron, blue tight jeans, and blue toed-sandals on his feet.

"Isshin's not responding directly to my responses. I think he may be talking to a girl." Kisuke said as his bucket-shaped hat shadowed his eyes.

Tessai stroked his chin with one hand while balancing the tray on the other one, "Could the girl he's speaking to have some sort of-."

Kisuke put his hand up as Isshin began speaking up, "_Hello? Hey! Are you even listen-. Hey, what happened to your face? It's not there_!"

"It's not there?" Kisuke murmured to himself as he and Tessai both pondered that sentence as if remembering something of high importance.

"Wasn't it reported when we were still in the Soul Society that a certain hollow used the victims it ensnared to lure human souls and shinigami alike to its clutches so it could devour their souls." Tessai said and Kisuke's eyes widened in remembrance of the monstrous being that had been avoiding any and all shinigami-warriors for fifty years!

"ISSHIN! GET AWAY FROM THE GI-" But it was too late! The bloodcurdling scream of Isshin echoed through the phone and devastated Kisuke and Tessai, "ISSHINNNNNNNNNNNN!" Kisuke screamed desperately while Tessai covered his mouth as a horrified gasp escaped it.

"No. He wasn't of the age to die like this." Tessai concluded while Kisuke seethed in fury and pounded the table in exasperation.

"His family isn't going to take the news well." Kisuke stated calming himself down before a deep, gruffly voice came from the still on phone.

"_**Well that was a delicious meal. He had more than the average amount of reiryoku in him… minuscule as it was; it still wasn't bad for a human. Hehe. The foolish man didn't even know the girl by the river was merely an illusion. It sucks to be him then. Mwhahahahahahahahaha**_**!"**

"So I assume this is the hollow who has eaten a kind-hearted family man." Kisuke spoke up darkly, getting a curious "huh" from the hollow over the other line. "I think you may have dropped the phone _partner_."

The volume that came through the phone let Kisuke know the hollow had picked up the phone. "_**Oh! What's this? That clown of a human had some friends I see. It just means more dinner for me then**_**."**

Kisuke's fist clenched involuntarily before he reached for his cane and grabbed it in defiance. "You'll be making a grave mistake… _partner,_ challenging me. Because I can assure you that your very being will be casted away to the deep depths of hell to rot in the devilish flames of it confines for all eternity."

The hollow gulped subconsciously at Kisuke's dark tone. "_**Who are you human? You sound like one of those veteran shinigami I've eaten. And trust me… I've eaten a lot of shinigami… boy! I've eaten tons of vice-captains in my time, so don't underestimate me boy!**_**"**

"Boy, huh?" Kisuke grinned wryly, "Well this mere 'boy' happens to have reached the very rank of a captain."

"_**WHAT?**_**!"**

"That's right hollow-san. A captain, the cream of the crop, although I like to consider myself at a modest third to the top kind of warrior, as I am a mere humble shopkeeper." The line abruptly went dead and Kisuke sighed, "He's gone."

"What'll you do now, Kisuke-dono?" Tessai questioned as he placed the tray down on the table and placed his hands together in a moment's pray for Isshin.

Kisuke stood up, gripping his wooden walking cane tightly in his hand, "Isshin's gone I fear, his family have a right to know. I'll be going to inform them this instant. You pick up Isshin's son at karate-class and keep the boy safe from any hollows."

Tessai nodded his head as he stood up and ignored the two cups of tea(s) he prepared for Kisuke and himself. This was no time for tea damn it! "Will you be using the reiryoku restrictor kido spell you created on Ichigo-san?"

Kisuke nodded affirmatively, "Yes. After tonight I doubt that Masaki would want anything to do with Karakura town again… as saddening as a thought that is." Tessai nodded his head sadly and prepared to walk on outta the house to collect Ichigo from karate class with Kisuke heading out to inform Isshin's wife and two daughters of the devastating news that awaited them.

XxX

(Kurosaki's home)

Masaki abruptly held her heart as her two daughters contently watched TV while she was preparing dinner for them all as a happy family, 'Why have I got this ominous feeling that something bad has happened all of a sudden?' Had Ichigo been hurt? Hollows were purposely after her son for his delicious power after all. Masaki couldn't bear the thought of her only son in danger for any reasons that he himself could not comprehend!

'If only I had my powers still. I could feel out Isshin and Ichigo-chan to make sure they're alright.' Masaki thought frustratingly, cutting up a carrot into pieces for tonight dinner. It had been a year since the woman had lost her powers. It was as if an incomprehensible vacuum of absorbing powers took hers away.

She frowned at the loss of her powers. She had felt significantly weaker the time that artificially created hollow-thingy inflicted her with the 'virus- symptom' that nearly eradicated her from the inside out if it wasn't for Isshin who heroically swept into her inner world and rescued her from the devilish thing. They still had little idea of where the fiendish being came from. Kisuke had an idea, but he couldn't quite put the pieces together.

Isshin did feel complied to save her after she intentionally took that bite from the hollow-being in order to eradicate it and in essence save his sorry ass as well. And that was as one would say the start of a beautiful relationship. She did not regret marrying Isshin even if it did mean shutting herself out from the rest of her people as only pure blooded members of Masaki's clan, the Ishida's clan, the clan that had adopted her, were allowed to interact with each other since all clans of the type of warriors Masaki was from was a part of one giant tribe.

Outsiders such as Isshin were forbidden to so much of even look at them with their unworthy eyes.

Masaki was broken out of her musings of her tribe who wanted nothing to do with her by the sound of banging coming from the direction of the door, "Momma! Someone's at the door, I think it's daddy." Yuzu informed her mother brightly, "Maybe he brought onii-chan back early."

Masaki smiled blissfully, placing her hands on her hips, "We'll just see about that dear." Yuzu cheered and bounced up on the sofa with her sister Karin sighing while their mother walked over to the front door and opened it up before answering the silhouette standing there brightly.

"It's good to see you Urahara-san! What can I do for you? Isshin isn't here at the moment." Masaki told him as Kisuke's bucket-shaped hat shadowed his eyes, masking his emotions perfectly while he held one of his hands on his head as the other one was used to hold his wooden walking cane.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance Masaki-san, but I have some troubling news that I'm sure you won't want to hear, but it must be said I fear." Kisuke said solemnly.

"What?" Masaki blinked before her eyes narrowed as she gave Kisuke an expectant look. "Did something go wrong while you were placing that restrictor on my son?"

Kisuke shook his head to Masaki's relief, "No. On the contrary, Ichigo is alright and is being picked up by Tessai."

"Why would Tessai need to pick up Ichigo-chan for? What's Isshin doing?" Kisuke allowed the silence to reign supreme as he placed his hand on top of his green bucket-shaped hat and gave Masaki an apologetic look that made the orange haired woman's eyes widened in realization, "No."

"I'm so sorry for your loss."

That was all he needed to say.

Salty tears ran down Masaki's cheeks as she covered her mouth to keep a dismay gasp from escaping it. "No. No. He was the love of my life." Masaki wailed and Kisuke nodded his head simply, not knowing quite what to say at this point. "How'll I raise three kids without him?"

"I can still place the kido spell on Ichigo if you want to keep hollows away from him." Kisuke tried to offer some solace to her, "This town is crawling with hollows every day, madam. Hollows can be sneaky ones who'll do just about anything just to get a good meal." Kisuke tightened his grip on his wooden cane.

Masaki wiped her tears with the back of her hand but it was all for naught as the floodgates from behind her eyes were utterly destroyed due to this devastating news that she would never see the love of life again… ever again!

"I would appreciate that Urahara-san… I don't think I can stay here any longer… within this town anymore." Masaki admitted, tentatively rubbing her arm while Kisuke nodded his head in understanding. "Can I see Isshin's body, if that's not too much to ask? I want to pay my final respects to the man that I loved."

Silence was king again.

"Oh kami! That hollow ate every last part of him!" Masaki squeaked and then whimpered loudly, losing every last ounce of strength in her knees as she fell on them while holding her heart. Kisuke just nodded sadly before he looked over to the saddened children watching their mother breaking down and not knowing why.

"Why are you upset momma?" Yuzu asked tentatively, getting Masaki to let out a gasp as she wiped her tears away from her eyes and turned around to her two small daughters and crawled over to them.

"Things are going to be very hard now, but we'll manage somehow." Masaki tried to reassure her daughters who just curiously tilted their heads to the side in a questionable manner, "Us three and Ichigo-chan will be moving away from Karakura Town." Yuzu gasped while Karin raised an eyebrow.

"What about the old man? Won't he be coming with us?" Karin asked and more tears flowed freely from Masaki's eyes as the dams holding the water back from her eyes would not repair themselves as the orange haired woman hugged her daughters tightly, much to their confusion.

"No. That's impossible. It's just us four from now on." Masaki cried.

"But why mama? Why can't daddy come with us?" Yuzu asked.

"He just can't dear," Masaki insisted as the girls felt their mother's tears fall onto their heads, "…He just can't." The girls were completely saddened and bewildered as to why their father could not come with them to their new home while Kisuke gave the distraught mother a sad look.

'You led a wonderful life Isshin my old friend… and I'm sorry I wasn't there for you.'

xXx

(Karate class)

The session went according to schedule for one Ichigo Kurosaki… almost that was. His sensei would show the class who wore a mixture of red and yellow belts, the first and second ranks, respectively in karate, a few moves like how to move swiftly while maintaining one's stance or how to cleanly disarm one's opponent if they had a weapon on them. He would then have his class do a few sit-ups, star-ups, the casual exercise to strengthen one's endurance and improve on one's overall fitness.

Afterwards he then ordered the kids to find themselves a sparring partner and trade blows with them for the rest of the class. Tatsuki obviously chose Ichigo, she always chose Ichigo, something that had the other kids questioning if she and Ichigo were an item until she threateningly pounded her fists together to scare them off.

Nobody wanted to mess with Tatsuki. She was the second best student after Ichigo, hence why she wanted to spar with him as she could never beat him and it got on her nerves that she couldn't beat him.

And today was no exception.

Yes. For the most part: it was business as usual barring that weird cornrowed haired guy who sauntered into the room twenty minutes ago, said two words to Ichigo's sensei, and sat on the bench just watching Ichigo, and Ichigo only, as if he were saying something around the lines of, "I know your secret. You see dead people."

Whoa… hold up, mind blowing experience right there.

Nonsense aside, that man was really started to piss off Tatsuki as he wouldn't keep his eyes off of her friend Ichigo. But the orange haired boy merely ignored him and continued to wrestle it out with his childhood friend Tatsuki Arisawa. His sensei seemingly gained a sad look on his face before his expression returned to his usual stony, stoic demeanour.

Once the parents started filling up the room, Ichigo's sensei looked at his watch and whistled using his finger and thumb to signal that it was the end of class.

"Time! Everyone lower your guards now." He commanded and everyone did just that. "I'm very proud of you all. You're all making great head-way, go home now and keep practicing to perfect your moves. Just remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was the art of mastering karate. It takes intense years of discipline to perfect the art known as karate! But you're on the right path to doing so." The kids groaned as they turned around to tiredly walk off to the people who had come to collect them while the man in black gave Ichigo a sad look.

"Hey, Ichigo-chan, who do you think that man is over there?" Tatsuki asked as she pointed at the strange man who still kept staring at Ichigo as if expecting him to come to him. His hands were shaped like a rectangle as his piercing eagle-like stare did not falter in the slightest at Ichigo.

"Huh?" Ichigo wondered as he looked around for his father, "I'm not too sure myself Tatsuki. But oh well. It's not like he can do anything to me."

"If you say so." Tatsuki frowned.

"I do say so." Ichigo grinned before raising his eyebrow, "Is my old man running late or something. He said he had something for me tonight."

Tatsuki grinned as she nudged Ichigo with her elbow, "What's that? A new toy? Oh you're so lucky Ichigo-chan."

"Yeah probably, I'm not too sure to be honest with you." Ichigo lied as he honestly doubted his good friend would believe him If he said he saw dead people and needed a spell placed upon him to keep monsters from coming after him to devour him alive.

Tatsuki nodded as she patted Ichigo on the shoulder, "Okay Ichigo-chan. Well I better get going. My mom's over there to pick me up. Make sure to bring in that new toy your father gives you. And DON'T get too full of yourself karate-san because of this win you have over me! I'll beat you someday, ya' know." Ichigo grinned sheepishly while Tatsuki jogged off to her mother and pouted at the bespectacled man watching Ichigo like a hawk's eye.

"Come on dear, we don't want to keep your father waiting now." Tatsuki's mother gently grabbed her hand and urged her to saunter out of the room.

"Okay mother." She flashed her good friend Ichigo a look who gave her a thumbs-up in return and she returned it with a smile in kind. Little did little Tatsuki know that would be the last time she smiled at her friend as she obliviously took off with her mother, her naivety making her believe that she'd always see her childhood friend each and every time he came to karate-class.

"Ichigo," The karate master said with sadness held in his voice.

"Yeah." Ichigo looked at the man curiously, "Sup? Does it have something to do with that man who keeps looking at me funny?"

"It does. He gave me some rather… heart-breaking news you need to hear."

Ichigo blinked a couple of times as he started hyperventilating, "Why me? Did something happen to one of my friends?" Or God-forbid his family, he didn't want to even think that one of them could be ill or even… dead. But as his sensei shook his head in the negative that either one of the few friends Ichigo had here at karate-class were in danger, Ichigo started to get worried.

"It's your father." Ichigo's eyes slowly started to grow in size as his breathing became even more rapid. "He's dead." And that was as they say the nail in the coffin for Ichigo. The pain ripped through Ichigo's heart like a samurai unmercifully cutting off a man's arm. In his mind Ichigo could see himself running away, grabbing semblances of his emotions before shoving them away, never wanting to deal with them again.

"It's okay to cry, Ichigo," The karate master placed his hand on the stone-faced Ichigo's shoulder as the boy's shoulders remained slumped with his arms flung lifelessly downward as if they'd been broken here in karate-class. Not a word was uttered from Ichigo even as Tessai strolled over to them. He merely stood there looking at the floor, "Ichig-."

"It's okay, old man. I know I was responsible for this. If I hadn't come here then my old man would still be alive." The karate master shook his head at the way the boy shamed himself for his father's death, "I will bear the burden of his death… and I will no longer come back to karate-class."

Will the burden of Isshin's death ever be lifted off of the young boy's shoulders? And what trials will the now stoic young boy go through as he unwilling journeys on a dark path in a bid to not have to deal with his emotions? The wheels of Ichigo's life have been turned and now the boy must settle within a new town while trying to push those who attempt to get close to him away.


	4. Naruto's Master

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Enjoy.**

**This is a light-hearted fic not meant to be taken seriously. **

* * *

**A Guiding Light to Greatness**

**Chapter One **

**No Sweat at All **

_In a village hidden by the leaves, widely known as the strongest village in the Elemental Nations, a tiny little orphaned boy wearing a orange t shirt, and black shorts reaching his knees was using the blue sandals neatly on his feet to scurry away from a group of ninja all ranked as chunin after letting off a stink bomb in the Academy, a place where all aspiring shinobi attend to learn what it meant to be a ninja!_

"_You ain't catchin' me ya losers!" Shouted the aforementioned spiky blond haired rascal with three whisker-marks each lined up on either side of his face. This blond bundle of trouble was known as Naruto Uzumaki, hated among his people for reasons he didn't know, but neither cared, because he spent the majority of his time pranking those that ignored him._

"_Get back here you trouble making brat!" One of the chunin ninjas chasing Naruto shouted at the boy. _

_The boy chortled loudly in response to the ninja's demand. How he just loved to play pranks, and make a nuisance of himself. It was the only thing he could do with little to no friends to hang around with. At least he had the Hokage's support, but since the old man was the leader of this village he didn't exactly have a lot of time to spare for the blond bundle of mischievousness, hence he had to make his own_ _entertainment._

_That was by pulling pranks to annoy the ones who blanked him like he didn't even exist. Well he would show them that he did exist and he was very much alive, dattebayo!_

_But of course being up against ninjas when he himself was only seven year old, the experience of the opponents he was facing was bound to avail no matter how long the chase went on for. To the boy, it was more like a challenge to see how long he could last without getting caught. _

_As the boy kept on running, he eventually ran head first into a solid object, the force stopping his momentum and sending it right back at him. The end result was him on his rear-end with a pout of annoyance written all over his adorable face. _

_The boy looked up, finding out the solid object he ran into was a leg belonging to someone while the ninja chasing him each breathed sighs of relief that they'd finally caught up to the boy, "Hey, watch where you're going bub!" The fox boy rudely demanded of the person he had run into, while the man giggled creepily to himself, 'What's up with this guy? He's acting like one of those old-farts reading those boring orange books?'_

"_Gotcha brat!" The blond-boy cringed as a firm hand landed on his shoulder, "Did ya think you could outrun us for long, huh?"_

_As the ninja dragged the boy up to his feet, a look of annoyance was seen on the blond-boy's face, "Well I would've done so if it wasn't for this old fart!"_

_One of the ninjas looked at the old man who had his back turned to them, "Sorry for the disturbance sir. This brat's been causing trouble for the whole village lately," The whiskered-faced kid sulked angrily while the ninja bowed to the old man, "C'mon boy, your punishment waits!"_

_Just as the ninjas began pulling young Naruto away whilst he struggled in vain to free himself, they were halted by an old croaky voice, "Now hang on now, sunny. Where do ya think you're taking him?" The ninjas turned curious glances to the old man while Naruto tilted his head to the side._

_A look of realization was seen on the ninjas' faces once the old man turned to face them. His posture was hunched over with a wooden stick in his right grip, and his left arm was folded behind his back like an old man on his last pair of legs. Conveniently, the old man let out a violent cough as if to display how close he was to dying with saliva coming out of his mouth. The ninjas looked alarmed while Naruto grimaced at the gross old man. The old man merely patted his chest and flashed the younger men and boy a reassuring smile. _

_He had an oval-shaped face, three liver-spots on his temple, and his skin was tanned. His short white hair was on the verge of falling out completely. He had a long white beard, a long white moustache, and a pair of round glasses over his onyx coloured eyes. His attire consisted of a green dragon-patterned kimono, a pair of red pants, an orange obi tied around his wrist, and Chinese shoes on his feet. _

"_Hey, aren't you Yoshirou, the man who worked alongside the Nidaime hokage?" The ninjas gaped at the old man while Naruto had a puzzled look on his face. Their gawks were only enhanced by a humble smile from the old man identified as Yoshirou._

"_I heard you'd left the village years ago after resigning as a ninja." Another ninja spoke up, still in awe at the old man before them as if he was a messiah. _

"_Oh but of course sunny, I only got back a few days ago." Yoshirou abruptly turned his head to Naruto, confusing the boy who watched the old man sauntered toward him and gently grab his hand, "I actually came back to visit my grandson."_

_The ninjas' eyes went wide with shock while Naruto had a deadpan look written all over his face. Who the heck was this guy? And why was he saying he was Naruto's grandfather? Naruto was sure that he was a lonely child. He was told that his parents died honourably defending the village of Konoha against the monstrous fox of which attacked it seven years ago on Naruto's birthday. _

"_Y-You mean you're this brat's grandfather, Yoshirou-san?" The ninja asked to which Yoshirou nodded his head. The three of them all looked down at Naruto who hadn't taken his eyes off of Yoshirou. _

_Yoshirou calmly disconnected the chunin's hand off of Naruto's, pulling the boy to his side like he was meant to be there, "So gentleman as you can see I'm responsible for this little rascal here. I hope that isn't a problem." A look of amazement came over Naruto's face. He couldn't believe his luck. For once someone was actually helping him, not only helping him but acknowledging his presence!_

"_Oh yes!" One of the chunins sputtered involuntarily, too shocked that Yoshirou Nagano was related to the demon-boy, "I think you ought to know that your grandson let off stink bombs in the academy, Yoshirou-senpei." Naruto stuck his tongue out at him which made him fume. _

"_Okay, I'll have a word with him." Naruto instantly paled at that. Surely the old man wasn't going to lecture him. After all, for intents and purposes, he didn't even know the geezer. _

_One of the chunin-instructors gave Naruto a smirk seeing the panicked look on his face before bowing to Yoshirou, "Okay, we'll leave him in your capable hands, sir." The chunin stood up, receiving a wave of appreciation from Yoshirou while he looked around the area where he'd ran into Yoshirou. He grew incredulous seeing the building of only the civilians of the opposite sex to him enter._

_The sign only confirmed their location, 'Strange. What would Yoshirou-senpei be doing outside of the women's hot springs?' After a moment or two, the chunin shrugged along with his companions. Sparing Yoshirou one last bow, the three chunin left him and his supposed 'grandson' alone. _

"_What's the dealio you old fart? You ain't my grandpa!" Naruto said once the academy instructors were far enough away from them. _

_Yoshirou let out a good-natured belly laugh, "Well you're quite the disorderly one aren't ya sunny-boy? And here I thought you'd be much more appreciative of the one who saved you from a time-out." He shot a knowing look at Naruto, making the boy sheepishly rub the back of his head. _

"_Oh, yeah, I guess I owe you my thanks old man. Hehe." Naruto giggled. _

"_Think nothing of it child." Yoshirou dismissed it kindly, walking over the bridge and away from the heavenly place known as the women's hot springs, a set of binoculars in his hand which Naruto took notice of. Why would the old geezer want binoculars for? There was nothing interesting out here unless one counted the females, but Naruto wasn't into girls yet._

"_Huh?" Naruto blinked before running after the old man, "Hey, wait a minute old man!" Yoshirou looked curiously at Naruto once the boy caught up to him, "Why'd you decide to help me out back there?"_

"_Hm? What an unusual question to ask." Yoshirou said, walking forward with his stick tapping the ground. _

"_It's not an unusual question you old geezer!" Naruto shouted and Yoshirou laughed wholeheartedly. _

"_Well I think so, sunny. It's common nature of a human to want to assist another human out." Yoshirou told him. _

"_Well no one wants to help me out." Naruto resorted, a frown on his face. Yoshirou turned his head downward to look at the boy curiously. _

"_Why do you say that sunny?" Yoshirou asked. _

"_No one ever acknowledges me. I don't even get so much as a passing glance sometimes." Naruto whispered, his head lowered with a saddened look on his face. Yoshirou hummed in contemplation, a expression betraying none of his thoughts on his face, "I don't even have any parents. The old geezer up in the tower said they died after I was born."_

'_Looks like Hiruzen-sama's law didn't prevent the boy from suffering from loneliness.' Yoshirou mused with a sigh coming from his lips, "What about friends, sunny? Don't you have any friends?"_

_Naruto shook his head sadly, "No. It's almost like they're scare of me for some reason. I dunno why. I tried to make friends by defending this purple haired girl from three bullies picking on her, but they pummelled me into submission before the girl's relative came and shooed them away. I didn't even get a thank you for trying to protect her. He just took her, and left me bruised and beaten on the floor."_

_Yoshirou mentally sighed, he figured the people of Konoha would shy away from the boy, but to go as far as to influence their children to stay away from Naruto was a step too far in his book. _

_Yoshirou stopped completely, causing Naruto to look up at him in curiosity, seeing the old man's hand coming downward to his level where it sat itself on his shoulder, "What's your name sunny-boy?"_

"_Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto introduced himself._

"_Awww. That's a nice name." Yoshirou complimented the boy, and Naruto grinned bashfully, "As for my name you may call me Yoshirou_ _Nagano if you want to." _

"_Okay, but I'll stick to old fart or old geezer for now. Maybe old man if you're lucky," Naruto smiled in a cheeky manner, causing Yoshirou to laugh. What a boisterous and brash young boy he was. He didn't have any respect for the authorities or his superiors by the looks of it. _

"_You know what sunny? I'm a little hungry. Care to join me for a bowl of ramen. It's on me." Yoshirou offered._

_Naruto's eyes lit up, "You mean it?"_

_Yoshirou smiled at the boy, "Absolutely."_

"_Hurray!" Naruto chirped uproariously, waving his arms up in the air, "Ramen's my favourite meal of all time old man! You're the best old geezer for offering to buy me ramen ever!"_

_Yoshirou chuckled, "Well it'd seem like I've picked a good place to eat then sunny-boy."_

"_Amen!"_

_As the two ventured off to Ichiraku ramen shop, determined to enjoy a couple of dishes of ichiraku's finest courses, each took notice of the hostility directed toward Naruto. Icily cold glares attempted to freeze the boy in place, and if it wasn't that then they just outright turned their backs on him to pretend like he wasn't even there. But Yoshirou could hear the subtle whispers coming from the cause of Naruto's loneliness._

_Yoshirou sighed as he and Naruto continued to near Ichiraku Ramen shop. He didn't blame them. They were just looking for a target to vent their hatred onto in the form of harsh glares, and Naruto was the unfortunate victim due to what lied in his gut. It was an unfortunate burden the boy had to carry until his grave. _

_Eventually, the two reached a small hut where Naruto grumpily walked underneath the flaps with Yoshirou lifting one up to follow the little boy inside. _

"_Ah. Welcome friend. I-." The owner of Ichiraku ramen shop went on to welcome the two who'd just walked in only to stop himself glancing at the old man who sauntered in with his best customer, "Ah, hello, Yoshirou. It's nice to see that you could pop back in here again friend."_

"_Indeed Teuchi. I decided to bring a friend with me as well after I met him by.- Well say a comforting place." Yoshirou lied, his old friend shaking his head at him before turning to look at Naruto. _

"_Hello, Naruto-kun! I see you met my good friend Yoshirou." Teuchi said with a grandfatherly smile on his face._

_Naruto's gaze shifted to the old man wearing white clothes made for a chef, "You know this old geezer, gramps?"_

_Teuchi laughed wholeheartedly, "Yeah! I've known Yoshirou since we were kids."_

"_Whoa! Old farts like you two were actually kids first!" Teuchi and Yoshirou both chuckled at the boy's childish ignorance while a cute brown haired girl came sauntering to the counter having heard the voice of young Naruto. _

"_Oh Naruto-chan, you're so silly! We're all going to grow old someday, sweetie!" The girl said perkily. _

_Naruto looked at the girl with his arms folded over his chest, "Really, Ayame-neechan? 'Cause I always figured I would be young forever or something. I dunno what I would look like If I grew up to be an old geezer." Naruto took that moment to envision himself as an old man, mentally cringing at the image of himself being old but giving a thumbs-up to open-air._

_Ayame giggled sweetly, "Well of course not Naruto-chan. No one knows what they're going to look like when they grow up, but that's the beauty of growing up, being amazed at the kind of adult you turned into, and looking at the memories of your past to reminisce about them." Yoshirou nodded his head, impressed at the young girl's maturity while Teuchi smirked proudly. _

"_Well I guess I'll find out. I have to grow up If I wanna be the Hokage of this village." Naruto replied, climbing up on one of the eight stools next to the counter. A saddened expression then came to his face. "'Cept I dunno if I can be Hokage though."_

"_Awww. Why do you think that you can't be the ruler of this village, Naruto-chan? I think you'd make a great leader with training!" Ayame said enthusiastically, hating the look on her self-proclaimed baby brother's face. Ever since the boy had started coming here she couldn't get enough of him. He was just so cute to leave alone. One time Ayame went from behind the counter, sat on a stool, picked up Naruto, sat the boy on her lap, and fed the boy his ramen. _

_Cute boys like Naruto should be cherished not scorned._

"_I won't be able to pass that stupid exam by the looks of it." Naruto complained. A shadow was casted over Yoshirou's eyes, his experience clearly showing. The man remembered his own time in the academy, and all the highs and lows learning his trade brought for him. He could remember well enough how some of his more unfortunate friends/fellow classmates failed the exam due to a particular reason._

"_Oh Naruto-chan. You should have more faith in yourself. I betcha if you believed in yourself more you could easily pass the exam no problemo!" Ayame told him optimistically. _

"_I dunno," Naruto frowned increasingly, causing Ayame to pout at him while Yoshirou sat down next to him. Naruto looked at the old man once he placed his hand on his shoulder. _

"_Do you believe you won't be able to graduate because of your inability to be perform the Bunshin no Jutsu?" Yoshirou asked to Naruto's shock._

"_Yeah, but how did ya know that old man?" Naruto asked. _

_Yoshirou smiled sagely, "I'll have ya know I was once your age too sunny-boy. I've seen many aspiring shinobi weeping because they couldn't perform the Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto scrunched up his face in exasperation._

"_But why can't I perform such a stupid ass jutsu? I'm the great Naruto-sama for crying out loud!" Naruto cried out haughtily, Ayame cooing at her baby brother's arrogance which she thought was really adorable. _

_Yoshirou crossed his arms and took on a thoughtful look of an veteran warrior who seen far too many battles, "Well, sunny-boy, those who struggle with the Bunshin no Jutsu are conveniently, in your case, more prominent."_

"_Whaddya mean by that old geezer?" Naruto asked with a confused look on his face. _

"_Chakra."_

"_Chakra?"_

"_Yes. The Bunshin no Jutsu only requires a pinch of chakra to do, those with massive amounts of chakra find it increasingly difficult to manipulate a little bit of their chakra to pull off a jutsu which takes a minimum amount of chakra to perform. They usually end up overloading their clones, resulting in it looking all deformed. Not a pretty sight indeed sunny-boy." Yoshirou explained to the arrogant-boy, Naruto's eyes widening with hope filling them. _

"_You mean I have a big supply of chakra old man and that's why I can't do the stupid Bunshin no Jutsu?"_

"_That's the gist of it."_

"_Badass! I knew I was awesome. The great Naruto-sama is above y'all!"_

"_Oh Naruto-chan! I always knew you were special." Ayame chimed in, reaching over the counter to kiss Naruto on his nose to which the haughty boy pouted at her, causing her to kiss him again in a cheeky manner. Teuchi laughed at the boy who tried to wipe away the kisses his daughter had given him._

_Once the kisses Ayame had placed on Naruto were gone a look of annoyance was on his face as Ayame grinned cheekily at him, licking her lips as if saying she was just waiting for another chance to smack a kiss on him. _

_Naruto turned to the old man with a helpless expression on his face, "So old geezer how do you suppose I control my 'catra' or whatever better to do that damned Bunshin no Jutsu?"_

"_Don't the academy instructors teach you about chakra control and concentration sunny-boy?" Yoshirou asked Naruto, finding a frown making its way to Naruto's face. _

"_Sheesh. No! All Iruka-sensei bitches about is me, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji dozing off 'cause we lack concentration, yadda, yadda, I ain't no professor, damn it! I'm a ninja! But no, he wants me to hold some stupid ass leaf on my head and whatnot!" Naruto ranted wittily, the old man looking at him disappointingly to what he summed up as Naruto's laziness to not want to do the tedious work to enhance his chakra control._

"_Naruto-chan!" Ayame scolded the boy for his use of language._

"_What? It's true Ayame-neechan!" Naruto whined._

"_Even so, there's no need to curse so much." Ayame chided the boy, making Teuchi hum an impressed noise at the way she handled her surrogate baby brother. Naruto pouted. _

"_Fine." Naruto backed down grumpily, causing a victorious smile to spread across Ayame's face before Naruto stared at the old man who had a look of contemplation on his old wrinkly face. "So, old man, you can see my problem here. Right?"_

"_You require assistance in gaining some semblance of control over your chakra?" Yoshirou asked._

"_Right! I hope to have just enough control of my great power so I can perform a couple of badass techniques!" Naruto chirped excitedly, Ayame gigging at his optimistic attitude. "So you think you could help me get better old man?"_

"_I could." Yoshirou agreed to which got Naruto hopeful. "Only on one condition though."_

"_Oh. Well Okay. What's the condition?" Naruto asked. He would accept any condition if it meant getting his own personal trainer to assist him in getting stronger to prove to all the douchebags, except his beautiful sister Ayame, Teuchi, and Hiruzen the Hokage, that he could make something out of himself and gain their acknowledgement._

"_You have to be fully dedicated to my training program. No lacking off you hear me? For I only have patience for those who want to be winners, and not losers, sunny-boy. If you're gonna step under my wing, then I don't want to hear any bellyaching from you no matter how intense the training gets. You must be willing to put your heart and soul into every exercise I set for you. Is that understood?" Yoshirou dished out seriously._

_Naruto stared at the old man in shock, suddenly feeling butterflies in his stomach at the man's change in demeanour from a laid back old man to a sudden strict dude at the tip of a hat. But the boy would swallow his nerves if it meant he could get stronger to become the Hokage and gain the acknowledgement of the villagers._

"_Yes." Naruto assured resolutely, and Yoshirou smiled proudly at him. _

"_Then we celebrate your apprenticeship to me with two bowls of ramen." _

"_Alright! You're the best old man ever! Hey, other old man, two bowls of your finest barbecue pork ramen! It's on him!"_

"_Haha!" Yoshirou laughed._

"_Coming right up, Naruto-kun!"_

"_I can't wait to see how strong my Naruto-chan will be once he graduates."_

"_Really strong, and that's a promise Ayame-neechan!"_

_Ayame smiled at Naruto. She didn't have any doubt in her mind that Naruto would become a truly splendid shinobi._

XxX

"Naruto, wake up!"

"Aaaaaaah!" A twelve year old Naruto screamed instinctually. Opening his eyes, he realized he was outside in a hallway sitting on one of three seats with a pink haired girl angrily glaring at him for some reason while a black haired boy stood up in front of him with a look of annoyance on his face.

Twelve year old Naruto's attire was very much changed since he met his perverted tutor and surrogate grandfather Yoshirou. He now wore a white vest top underneath an orange dress shirt which had a red swirl mark neatly embedded on the back of the shirt, blue jeans, a kunai holster on his right leg, a pair of orange sunglasses over his eyes, and orange sandals on his feet.

He had trained immensely since that day. He didn't have a choice. His master was very strict when it came to his training and always made sure he trained until he could sweat no more. It wasn't until a week in his training when he came across his surrogate brother, another lone-wolf of Konoha. For his own reasons, the boy allowed Yoshirou to take him under his wing and turn him into a strong ninja. Naruto felt jealous of his brother, because he seemed to advance further in his training.

Sometimes Naruto believed that his master shown favouritism toward his brother, because he taught him more stylish taijutsu-styles while just being a guiding light for Naruto to follow. When questioned by Naruto of this, Yoshirou informed him that he himself was more comparable with his brother than Naruto, to which made Naruto exasperated until Yoshirou promised him he'd do everything in his power to see to it that Naruto didn't fall behind his brother.

Yoshirou, to his credit, seemingly kept to his word since Naruto doggedly trained as hard as he could to keep up with his adoptive brother.

But despite his envy of his brother's ridiculous growth rate Naruto loved him like the brother he never had.

"Oh. Hey, Sasuke-chan. You finished the exam already?" Naruto asked his adoptive brother, Sasuke Uchiha of the nearly extinct Uchiha clan barring two members, one of which wasn't even living within the high walls of Konohagakure no Sato, so that made Sasuke the last loyal Uchiha of Konoha.

"Hmph." Sasuke let out. Sasuke was a boy who had black spiky hair and onyx coloured eyes. He wore a white vest top underneath a black dress shirt that had his clan's symbol of a white and red fan embedded on the back of the shirt, black posh trousers, black sandals, a kunai holster on his right leg, and a gold chain wrapped around his neck. Most noticeable item on Sasuke's person which caught Naruto's eye since he was sure Sasuke didn't have it on him before he disappeared into the classroom was a blue headband clutched in Sasuke's grip.

The headband had a silver template stitched onto it with a leaf insignia engraved into the middle of the template.

Sasuke held up his headband in calm indifference. "Pay attention. I went in there for a minute and already you were fast asleep the time I got out."

"Really? Hehe. Guess I got bored bouncing anxiously for you to finish so I could go in here already, dattebayo. Hey, how long were you in for anyway, Sasuke-chan?" Naruto questioned his adoptive brother.

"Don't know." Sasuke shrugged. "Thirty seconds, maybe."

"Damn that quick eh." Naruto grinned, rubbing his nostrils with his index finger, standing up and stretching out his sore limbs from the intensive training his master put him and Sasuke through, "The old fart needs to loosen the screws on our training regimes! I can barely damn near walk much less run after getting through one of 'em torture sessions, dattebayo!"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"Sasuke-chan doesn't struggle doing easy push-ups, Naruto-san!" The pink haired girl screeched in defence of her crush. Two green sexy orbs narrowed dangerously at Naruto, long exotic pink hair fall to her back, and a blue headband was neatly wrapped over her head to show off her beautiful abnormal forehead. A red dress with a white circle on it fell just past the girl's knees, underneath the dress was a pair of biker shorts to save her decency in case a sneaky someone had the boldness to lift up her dress, a pair of blue sandals was on her feet and a kunai holster was wrapped around her smooth left leg.

"Hn."

"Guess so," Naruto smirked, a glint of mischievousness shining in his eye. 'If Sakura-chan thinks the old fart's _real _training regime's that easy, then she's in for a world of surprise with her good-looking self,' Naruto thought. The opening of the door directed the duo of newly fresh ninjas and would-be one to it.

A head of brown spiky hair poked itself out of the door, "Naruto Uzumaki! Please step into the examination room this instant! It's your turn to take the exam." The man had tan skin with a scar running across the bridge of his nose and his hair was tied back in a ponytail. The leaf headband was proudly displayed on his forehead along with his green flaked jacket, navy blue pants, a kunai holster on his right leg, and blue sandals on his feet.

Naruto rolled his arm in a circular motion, "I hear ya loud and clear, Iruka. I betcha can't wait until I'm outta your hair, right dude?"

"You couldn't be more right." Iruka deadpanned, having got many mind-grains caused by the insolent boy's trouble-making ways. Naruto wouldn't even call him sensei since Naruto had long time surpassed him in all categories, but even still he was proud of Naruto for making it this far like he was with the rest of Naruto's year group.

Iruka sighed with a smile on his features, "Hurry up, Naruto. We don't have all day now." Iruka walked into the classroom leaving the door to the classroom open.

"Roger." Naruto grinned, looking at Sakura which made the newly promoted kuroichi scoff cutely, fold her arms over her chest, and turn away from the boy, "You gonna wish me luck Sakura-chan?"

"I'm not talking to you until you grow up, Naruto-san!" Sakura yelled indignantly, blinking once Naruto disappeared as if he wasn't even there.

A cold breeze penetrated the back of Sakura's legs, letting her know exactly where Naruto had chosen to sprint to, and raging furiously at his decision to go there since he did it to her every day since turning eleven.

That was lifting up her dress and complimenting her rear-end.

"But you just spoke to me moments before Sakura-chan." Naruto quipped, his hand holding up the back of Sakura's dress while the girl fumed, fists clenching so tight her nails threatened to break her skin. Naruto's eyes lecherously enjoyed the view of Sakura's ass, despite the misfortune of her biker shorts being in the way, "Speaking of growing up, is it just me or did you get a nice ass?"

The sound of skin colliding against skin sounded out through the air, making Sasuke sigh in exasperation while Sakura raged mightily, 'Stupid old man.' Sasuke blamed his and Naruto's perverted sensei for why Naruto became such a pervert. Children, especially ones who didn't have a parent or family to begin with, will often copy those around them because they believed it was the cool thing to do.

It also didn't help that Yoshirou encouraged Naruto and Sasuke to embrace their perverted natures.

"You pervert!" Sakura screamed, spinning around to slap Naruto, but the boy effortlessly dodged her, laughing goofily as he slowly advanced toward the classroom, "Come back here and take your beating like a man Naruto-san!" Naruto's response was to casually hightail it into the classroom, leaving Sakura fuming to Sasuke, "He's always behaving like this, never improving!"

Sasuke chuckled a little as a smirk came to his face.

"Yeah. I doubt he'll ever change."

XxX

As Naruto danced on into the wide room with brown tiled flooring, he grinned in mocked innocence at seeing the exasperated look on Iruka's face as he sat next to a meekly looking white haired, pale-skinned man known as Mizuki who was clad in the same uniform as Iruka. Both of the chunin instructors were sat in front of a desk with multiple leaf village headbands all lined up for any would-be genin lucky enough to pass the examination.

"Sup Iruka, are the kiddings bugging ya again?" Naruto asked cheekily.

"You know what's bothering me, so don't get smart with me Naruto." Iruka commanded sternly, Naruto droning while blinking his eyes in faked confusion.

"Not sure I know what you mean doc." Naruto's grin turned outright toothily, his front teeth visible to Iruka and Mizuki. Iruka groaned, massaging his temples with his two fingers. Seriously, he was happy for the boy, really he was, since in a way Naruto reminded him a little bit of himself when he was his age, but his constant trolling could be irritating.

"Oh really, because Sakura-san screaming says otherwise Naruto," Iruka challenged, not wanting to give in to the jokester that was Naruto and admit that the jokester had him annoyed because he would just come back in his spare time and do it all over again. It didn't help his cause knowing that Naruto was stronger than him like two of the boy's fellow delinquents in Kiba and Chouji, and his brother Sasuke. Honestly, how do three slackers surpass him when only one of Iruka's upstanding students with a perfect attendance surpassed him.

The others were close to Iruka's level but only Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, and Chouji had exceeded him due to their specialty in speed and strength. And only one of them actually came into the academy while the rest came kept on skipping class with the other delinquent-boy known as Shikamaru.

Naruto's face displayed shock, his mouth opening wide, and his hands clamping onto the sides of his whiskered cheeks, "Really? Someone made Sakura-chan scream?" At this, a feral smirk crossed his features, "Well I guess it's that day of the week again, eh." Naruto quipped with a look on his face which just begged Iruka and Mizuki to take the bait.

Iruka resisted the temptation for both him and Mizuki but the latter could see that the former was straining to do so as the seconds which felt like hours to them ticked on, while Naruto just grinned at them. Eventually, the white haired man let out a sigh and decided to bite.

"Okay, what day of the we-."

"Garbage day, bitch!" Naruto roared energetically, cutting off Mizuki who sheepishly smiled at Iruka who had veins all over his face complete with a twitching eyebrow, "Hehe. Anyone who bothers Sakura-chan has already booked themselves an appointment to see the doctor of pain. Dattebayo."

Iruka sighed in frustration. He knew that Naruto and his family were good friends with Sakura and her family after the boy had protected her from a couple of bullies when they were younger.

"Oh give him a break Iruka-kun. It is his last day, and besides, I think it's nice how he wants to look after his friends," Mizuki cut the blond rude-boy some slack to which got him a thumbs-up from Naruto, but a shake of the head from Iruka.

"You're too soft Mizuki-kun," Iruka said, causing his dear friend from their childhood to smile in awkwardness at him. Iruka coughed twice into his hand, regaining his composure to point at the set of headbands on the table. "Anyway, Naruto, you must perform three clones in order to gain your headband and become a leaf shinobi of Konoha." Iruka sent a look at Naruto, masking his worry with a stern look. Out of all the basic techniques Iruka taught to his former students, he knew this one was not Naruto's forte.

Throughout his time in the academy, he was the only one who couldn't perform it. He honestly doubted that Naruto could pull it off today of all days.

"Yeah, whatever," Naruto groused lackadaisically, still hating this cursed jutsu despite his years of training underneath a retired jonin of Konoha. Luckily, he had an ace in the hole for this moment.

As Naruto adjusted himself in a stance, both of his legs spread apart like a cowboy while he held his hands up in the ram-sign, he missed the malevolent smirk which crossed the seemingly good-natured Mizuki's face.

'There's no way the demon-brat will be able to do such a simple jutsu. He lacks the talent for it. Hehe. He'll be my piece to use once this is all over.' Mizuki managed to keep his humble façade under wraps by breathing deeply, as if he were really worried for Naruto not successfully making three illusions of himself to pass the exam and become a ninja of Konoha.

"Ahhhhh." Naruto flared up his chakra, an aura of blue blazing around his body, causing his hair and clothes to waver like a mini fan had been switched on, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)**." Immediate shock expressions of the highest caliber found their ways to Mizuki and Iruka's faces, as they simultaneously yelled out –

"WHAT?!"

Smoke erupted from Naruto, concealing his view from the two stunned instructors.

'H-How? It's not possible! There's no way the fox-child could have a jutsu of that… magnitude.' Mizuki mused, gaping at the scene like Iruka. Once the smoke cleared up, three solid clones of Naruto were among the original all smirking and giving the chunin-instructors peace-signs.

"How low can I go?" A Naruto, probably the real one, asked in a haughtily manner, confusing Mizuki.

"Wha-?"

"'Cause I slithered underneath that loophole!" All three Narutos shouted cheerfully, a smile coming to Iruka's face at the ingenious thinking of Naruto to get around his weakest jutsu by learning a stronger version of it.

"Well I'll be damned. So you actually figured out a way to pass, good work Naruto," Iruka praised, making Naruto and his clones smirk while Mizuki gawked at him.

"Iruka you can't be serious! With all due respect the other academy students all made three illusions, not solid clones of themselves; it isn't fair to the others." Mizuki argued his point. No, the demon-child couldn't pass. He needed him for his plans, Naruto just had to fail. For him!

"Huh? Has your noggin turned to mincemeat or something? I can't do the Bunshin no Jutsu, I have too much chakra for that. Me attempting to do the Bunshin no Jutsu is like filling up a tiny cup with a big bottle of coke." Naruto quipped to Mizuki's ever growing annoyance. "It's just not gonna happen 'cause you'd just end up overfilling the tiny cup with coke, thus spilling it over and making a mess."

'Clever dick.' Mizuki growled internally, struggling not to gnash his teeth at the smart-mouthed boy.

"Besides, the rules of the exam are stated as, 'one must make three _clones _to pass'. It doesn't specifically state which kind of clones a student has to make in order to pass the exam." Iruka said in defence of Naruto using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu as a substitute for its weaker counterpart.

"But Iru-."

"Give it a rest will ya." Naruto said, surprising Mizuki and Iruka as he surged next to the desk faster than anyone of them could blink. Naruto grinned smugly at the gawks on Iruka's and Mizuki's faces from seeing his speed before he grabbed a headband off of the table and casually lifted it off of the table. "You should be rejoicing man. The Show-off, Number One Unpredictable, Noisy Ninja Naruto Uzumaki is finally outta the house."

"Well I guess that's one positive thing to look at." Iruka smiled while Naruto nodded, pivoting on his heels to bounce goofily out of the room, "Wait Naruto! Before you go, could you tell us how you were able to master a B-rank jutsu in the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It's a dangerous jutsu, not something a newly promoted genin should be wielding."

"Old man Hokage will fill ya in on the details," Naruto promised, not ceasing his stride and sounding very much like he didn't care. His word made an incredulous expression appear on Mizuki's face as he didn't quite believe that Hokage-sama would give the boy such a jutsu in order for him to pass the exam.

"Hokage-sama? Naruto, what do you mean by Hokage-sama will explain everything to us? Surely you can't be telling us that Hokage-sama gave you the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu just so you could make it to genin-rank. That's preposterous!" Mizuki stressed.

"Preposterous? Tell that to my ass, 'cause it's the only one who gives a shit." Naruto quipped with a casual wave of his hand over his shoulder, receiving a flinch from Mizuki before the boy sauntered out of the class.

"That Naruto, he really thought outside of the box to pass this exam." Iruka said to Mizuki with a smile on his face while the chunin in question mentally stressed, "Wouldn't you agree Mizuki-kun?" Mizuki let out a gasp, seemingly forgetting that Iruka was talking to him. He quickly straightened his composure.

"Yeah. He's full of surprises."

XxX

As Naruto waltzed on out of the classroom with his newly required headband and hands stuffed into his pockets, his monkey instincts alerted him to the danger closing in on his left side. Fast. His hand shot up, effortlessly ensnaring the smooth leg with a wonderful fragrance coming off of it as if it were child's play.

"You gotta step your game up, Sakura-chan, if you wanna nail me." Naruto jeered, turning his head to the side to see a pouting Sakura with her leg still up from the kick she had attempted to hammer Naruto with since the boy still had a firm grip on her beautiful leg.

"Shut up, dummy! I told you that I'd beat some sense into your block head!" Sakura yelled and Naruto chortled. Sakura flinched as she began to feel a tingle run up her leg, warming up her leg like igniting two sticks by rubbing them together, "Stop feeling up my leg, pervert!" Sakura demanded, struggling to shake off Naruto's lewd massage by hopping up and down, and wriggling her hips to the side.

"Whoa, hold still Sakura-chan." Naruto simply released his hold on Sakura's leg, causing the girl to fall onto her backside from the momentum of trying to break free from Naruto's hold and suddenly finding her leg free without having broken the hold. "Woops. You okay, Sakura-chan?"

"Jerk." Sakura mumbled, rubbing her rear-end while Sasuke sighed from where he sat patiently on one of the seats waiting for Naruto to hurry up and pass.

"Hey, what'd I do? You were the one hopping around like a one-legged lady, Sakura-chan." Sakura glared angrily at Naruto's cheeky grin, Sasuke caressing his forehead in annoyance as he stood up to his feet and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Hn. I'm guessing Iruka and Mizuki were shocked to see your use of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, eh Naruto." The stoic Uchiha said and Naruto rubbed his nostrils with his index finger while the pink haired kuroichi hopped to her feet with her hands on her hips.

"You may have the reserves to make all those clones, Naruto-san, but Sasuke-chan and I have the control that you don't have. So there." Sakura stuck her tongue out at Naruto.

"Who cares? I may be able to use my killer jutsus less, but that's minor, 'cause they pack enough power in 'em to make things go ka-boom!" Naruto resorted cheerfully, folding his arms behind his head.

"Well I guess that's true." Sakura agreed, "You know something, you can be pretty awesome when you want to be Naruto-san. Way to go learning such a high ranking jutsu. I wouldn't have believed you could obtain a jutsu like that if I didn't see it for myself," Sakura sighed, "I guess I underestimated you."

"Awww, shucks, Sakura-chan. It's nuthin' that the great Naruto-sama couldn't accomplish. Haha. I'm one step closer to owning this village! Old man Hokage will be getting his ass booted off of his throne in no time at all!" Naruto declared thunderously, Sakura frowning at the boy's arrogance.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"Yeah Sasuke-chan, what is it man?" Naruto asked.

"Time to roll." Sasuke told his brother-in-training calmly.

"Home? Alright! The old geezer said he'll treat us to ramen if we both passed the graduation exam! And we did!" Naruto grinned widely, "I can't wait to show him our headbands!" Naruto pulled out his headband. "He's gonna be so proud of us." Naruto giggled at the prospect of gaining his master's praise. "Oh, and maybe he can stitch this leaf template onto an orange cloth, 'cause orange is a badass colour."

"Hn. I only need mine sewed onto a black one since I wear mostly black clothing." Sasuke said. "Blue would look out of place on me." A light bulb appeared on Sakura's head as she rushed up to Sasuke with a bright pink tinge on her cheeks, holding her hands together.

"Oh I can do that for you Sasuke-chan." Sakura blushed.

Sasuke looked at the girl with a lifted eyebrow, but Sakura only offered a nod of verification to let him know she would do that for him to gain his recognition. So, Sasuke, needing his template stitched on a black cloth regardless of who did it for him, shrugged his shoulders, "Okay."

Sakura squealed joyously, "Hurrah!" Sakura eagerly took Sasuke's headband off of him once the boy brought it out of his pocket and handed it to her, "Thank you Sasuke-chan! I promise you I won't let you down! I'll see to it that this is returned to you by tomorrow, shannaro!"

"See to it that you do." Sasuke suggested. Sakura nodded her head and happily skipped off down the hall-way, on cloud nine that she could do something to make her prince charming happy, "Hn. Come." Sasuke said to his brother, turning to him and gaining a look of annoyance on his face from the teasing look on Naruto's face, "Tch. What are you looking at?"

"Oh 'nuthin much, just that you like girls."

"Tch, spare me the melodramatics, like I have time to waste on fan-girls."

Sasuke begin what would eventually be his and Naruto stride home leaving the boy grinning to himself for a brief moment.

"Whatever you say, Sasuke-chan."


	5. Ichigo and Yuzu

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach **

* * *

**The Reliance of Oneself: Journey of a Lone-Wolf**

The darkness of the night was lit up by the many street lights of Karakura Town. Up above it would mesmerize people watching the majestic lights offer their guidance to the civilians of Karakura Town and show them a clear path to their destination. A lady, above all else, stood out on the tall lamp post calmly observing the town as if she was its swore protector.

"The night feels so calm and gives off a tranquillity feeling even as beings with skull-shaped masks stalk their prey hoping to complete their evolution. This is where a shinigami comes in; warriors of a higher plateau, assigned to this small town to assure its people don't get devoured by hollows."

The petite woman with her longish black hair coming to her shoulders, a strand of her hair hanging in between her violet eyes, leaped elegantly from the lamp-post as if she were an angel wearing a black shihakusho held closed by a white obi tied around her waist, wooden sandals on her feet, and a katana sheathed to her hip.

"I feel its presence."

**Chapter One **

**Do What You Want – Whenever You Want **

Tobacco smoke flowed smoothly up to the sky from a four story high building known as Karakura High School. The smoke was coming from the very highest place that was the rooftop, and it was being smoked by a tallish boy with bright spiky orange hair and hazel eyes holding the coldness of that of a veteran warrior.

His attire consisted of a black dress shirt which was tucked into his black trousers; both were complemented by a pair of black shoes on his feet and sunglasses of the same colour over his hazel eyes. His back rested casually against the wall of Karakura High School's rooftop while the cigarette hung loosely from his index and middle fingers, both of which formed a scissors-shape so the boy could smoke his cigarette better.

Most noticeable item on the boy would happen to be the strange silver-coloured cross dangling from his right wrist and what appeared to be a kendo stick of sorts since he was holding something neatly concealed in a brown bag tied at both ends in his free hand. Whatever was in his grip, it was what made the boy truly shine.

"Bored." The boy groaned before inhaling more smoke from his cigarette. "Heh. Perhaps those heartless bitches will provide a worthy challenge for me after school." And the delinquent-boy wasn't exactly talking about the other hoodlums around town since he'd already turned them (most of them) black and blue. No. He was referring to the creatures that could be considered the devil's minions, all of which wanted to absorb him into their beings to gain his power.

It was partly the reason why he chose to live on his own and rely only on himself, because this was the kind of boy he was. He was a loner, a lone-wolf, swore to carry his own burdens and even others if the need arises. He was very strong-willed and honourable in that sense.

The orange haired boy was broken out of his musings by the turning of the doorknob.

He didn't blink an eye as the door came open and in walked a bespectacled boy of average-height with dark blue hair falling to his shoulders, two bangs of his hair framed his oval-shaped face and he wore a white dress shirt complete with a blue and yellow striped tie around his neck, grey trousers keeping his shirt neatly tucked in them, a pair of brown shoes on his feet, and a black business bag dangling from his shoulder completed the boy's appearance.

The orange spiky haired boy sucked his teeth cheekily, his head banging against the wall in exasperation, "Tch. Did the teachers send you scurrying up here Uryu?"

The boy, Uryu Ishida, turned to look at the orange haired boy before correcting his glasses, "What do you think?" He got nothing other than smoke blowing upward from the kid's mouth after the boy had released his inhale. "I hardly think your father would want you skipping class, do you Kurosaki?"

"Like I care." The Kurosaki descendant murmured grumpily.

"Hmph. You should care. You disgrace the honour of the Quincy by acting like a run of the mill hoodlum." Uryu told his cousin. He took great pride in his race and believed his cousin should do the same. He began to resent him all the more once the boy declared his desire to rely solely on his aura, (the power in use known as reiatsu), against any hollow foolish enough to challenge him.

The boy exclaimed the Quincy-way of fighting didn't suit him. There was only one technique the kid liked and that was only because it allowed him to move at speeds invisible to the naked eye. Ichigo was his name and speed was his game. But in despite of his personal gripe he had with his Quincy powers, Ichigo still was one… just not a pure bloodied one. He held the proof of his Quincy-heritage on his right wrist as did Uryu.

"Argh, not this speech again," Ichigo grumbled. "You're just jealous 'cause I whoop your ass every time we spar, cuz."

Uryu fixed his glasses, "The phrase you were looking for is 'gain the upper hand over me due to the slight advantage in the absurd amount of reiatsu (spiritual pressure) you have. It enables you to fight like a wild animal rather than a grace of a highly skilled warrior, Kurosaki. And it's _because _and _cousin. _Please refrain from using such words in my presence. Such words are the sign of a common riff-raff, truly unbefitting of a Quincy."

A scowl of annoyance sat itself on Ichigo's face at his cousin's condescending explanation. He always had to make himself feel superior in some-way even when he knew deep down he was inferior to Ichigo and his huge reserves of reiatsu he obtained from a combination of his blood through his parents and years of intensive training.

Ichigo could haughtily say with gusto that his reserves were on a S-class level. Unfortunately, he would have to tone down his arrogance to confess that he had high B-class or low A-class control of his power, but day by day he was working on improving that.

"Whatever." Ichigo groused.

Uryu held his nose in the air, "Hmph. I don't have all day standing around speaking to ungrateful and ignorant 'warriors' whom don't know the superior strength of the Quincy, you ought to know. Are you coming along to class or not?" The bangs of Ichigo's hair shadowed his eyes.

"Does it matter to you Mister-Know-It-All?"

"Point taken." Uryu declared as he spun around to head back out of the door, "Just don't hate on me because my intelligence is infinitely higher than yours, Kurosaki. As shown on the school test results. Who was ranked highest again?" Ichigo let the silence answer Uryu's question, "Thought so. Do me a favour and stay out of my way. The last thing I need is a hoodlum with a subpar intelligence level slowing me down in all aspects." With that Uryu trotted off in all his haughtiness, missing the comical angry face Ichigo made at him as if he was mimicking him.

"That guy really grinds my gears," Ichigo growled savagely to himself. Uryu Ishida was up there on Ichigo's list of most hated people… family or not. He wasn't particularly fond of Uryu's father either, but he did what he felt was necessary after _that _day, six years ago from today. It changed him for the better if you asked Ichigo.

He saw the world in a different light and discovered it wasn't a happy place where peace reigned supreme. Honestly, peace didn't freaking exist in this monster littered world. This was a world where the weak got eaten and only the strongest survived. With such fiendish creatures crawling around Karakura Town it was of no wonder why Ichigo chose the training he endured under the guidance of his uncle.

Especially when one considered the fact Ichigo was almost the cause of such a tragedy.

"I'm outta here." Ichigo groused, not wanting to think of the memories of his past. The memories which made him into the boy, the extremely powerful boy, he was as of today, "I don't need work and school in the same day," Ichigo finished the last bit of his cigarette, dropping the bud, stepping on it with his foot nonchalantly, and walking out of the door leading to the rooftop of his school.

XxX

And out of school Ichigo went as the boy rubbed his neck in a tired manner, "Tch. School. What a waste of my time." Ichigo simply made his trek through the busy streets of Karakura Town, occasionally stopping to buy himself a can of soda and a bar of chocolate from the shop.

He only stopped again once he found himself walking through an alleyway littered with graffiti on the walls, and a group of older boys who attended the high school not too far away from Karakura High School all looking at him with smirks on their faces.

"Kurosaki! We've been waiting for you. We wanna rematch with you!" One of the delinquents shouted while cracking his knuckles, his nine friends all doing likewise as they nodded their heads in agreement with him.

A look of annoyance was on Ichigo's face. "Shouldn't the trash-men be doing this shit?" Ichigo quipped irritatingly and the hoodlums fumed.

"We'll see how cool you are after we mess you up!" A boy assured and the others roared in agreement with him. The boys then charged Ichigo while roaring belligerently, thunderously making the noise equivalent to that of an elephant stampede echo throughout the air due to the loudness of their charge toward Ichigo.

Ichigo chucked his brown bag up in the air, "Let's get this over with." Vanishing speedily, Ichigo reappeared in front of the delinquents with his arm thrown over his shoulder and his leg held back. It took little more than a second for the frozen faced boys to register the immense pain they had received which sent them launching into the air while screaming painstakingly.

Ichigo stood up, dusting himself off composedly. His hand then reached upward where he caught his brown bag with the skill of a swordsman, "As if you fools ever had a chance against me."

The teenagers groaned in pain after crashing on the floor with a resounding thud, "He's strong." One of them wailed while the others just whimpered. Ichigo sauntered away from them as if he had never even been there in the first place.

As Ichigo rounded couple of more corners, hopped on two buses using his bus pass, he eventually started nearing Bowery, a cheap area where guys like him go to live because they were too poor to live anyway else. The haughty boy didn't even flinch upon entering a dirty alleyway, and hearing a gravelly voice echoing from the walls.

"**Hmm. Mmm. Look what we have here boys, a tasty meal already made for us to feast on." **

"**Indeed. I believe I'm gonna enjoy snacking on him."**

"**Don't get greedy now, brother. You should share him with the rest of us."**

Ichigo watched stoically while three creatures with white skull-shaped masks on their faces, coal blackened skins, bodies shaped in the form of ghosts, and holes where their hearts should be wandered out of the shadows. The beings had no sclera or even pupils, but instead their eyes gave off the appearance of two black holes which gleamed a blood red colour in them.

"Guess I could do with a stress relief." Ichigo said, setting himself in a stance with his brown bag held in front of himself.

The creatures thought he was having a laugh since there was no way a mere human could defeat them, "**Haha! As if a mere human could defeat us hollows. You'll be a part of our beings soon enough you foolish human."**

"Aww. What's wrong?" Ichigo mocked with a smirk on his face. "Don't hollows go after their most cherish people they made during the times when they were alive? What happened? Did mama not love ya enough?" That was true.

Ichigo had that info broken down to him by his old man. Hollows were once earth bound spirits who couldn't pass on for one reason or the next and ended up becoming a hollow after their Chains of Fate eventually withered away into nothing or other hollows devoured them, thus turning them into hollows.

From there the spirits-turned-hollows would rummage through the World of the Living in search of the people they loved most before becoming what they were to fill the emptiness in their hearts.

The hollows were furious at Ichigo's taunting, "**Don't you dare mock us you disgusting human!"**

Ichigo chuckled unmercifully, preceding to further angrier the hollows, "**DON'T LAUGH AT US, YOU HUMAN! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! YOU'RE NOTHING TO US, BUT OUR MEAL! GET THAT STRAIGHT!" **One of the hollows bellowed at Ichigo, charging at the cocky warrior. A powerful breeze shot past the hollow, followed by a shower of blood and an inhuman arm flying through the air.

"**Aaaaaaaahhhh**!" The hollow roared as it fell to its knees, leaving its brothers speechless. Both of them had dropped jaws before quickly pinpointing Ichigo's location. The orange haired boy stood off at the side with a samurai sword of average-length in his grip, the hilt was shaped like a dragon and the silver blade itself had the kanji-markings for "one who protects" embedded across it.

"**You!" **One of the two remaining hollows growled hatefully at Ichigo.

"Me." Ichigo said as if he hadn't essentially cut down the hollow's brother in cold blood. It was still alive but only barely, "Not even warmed-up yet. Heh. How disappointing…"

The hollows were shaking with fury at being toyed with by a mere _human! _Not even a disgusting shinigami; it was a _human _for crying out loud. There was no way a _human _could have this kind of immense _power! _No! They wouldn't believe it! This _thing _before them was not a human! _It _must have been some kind of entity.

"**I don't know what you are but you're not a human. No human could possess your kind of immense power! You hear me!" **The other hollow roared.

A cocky grin spread itself across Ichigo's features, "Bingo. Give the geniuses a prize for hitting the nail on the head. Heh." Ichigo quipped, slamming one leg forward while adjusting the other one backward. His samurai sword was shoved outward in his right grip, his left arm held above his head.

"**You were right brother. He isn't a human. Then just what is he?" **The hollow asked its brother only to get a look of shock on its face as an aura of green powerfully shrouded Ichigo's body, cracking the walls venomously while the ground underneath his feet shattered as if the earth couldn't sustain the weight of Ichigo.

"**W-What is this power?" **One of the hollows stammered, seeing what appeared to be a dragon entity taking shape around Ichigo. The boy opened up his eyes, showing them the change in colour. His sclera was green with no visible pupils, just like the powerful spirit coming forth from his body of his will.

"**Mokushiroku no Inshō-Tekina Ryū (Striking Dragon of the Apocalypse)**," Ichigo announced, unleashing an unfinished version of his most destructive attack to date on the hollows so he wouldn't end up eradicating them from existence and annihilating a building or two in the process. The hollows screamed as the dragon-entity conjured up by Ichigo's power stream-rolled through them, tearing their bodies asunder while releasing a cry of terror before flying into the sky, and roofing it apart.

"Hmph. They go down like cockroaches." Ichigo whispered, seeing the hollows lifelessly drop onto the ground like two broken toys, "Heh. I feel somewhat better if only slightly. Still I'd have much preferred it if they actually put up a fight." Such was the burden of being classed as a low A-class warrior.

There was barely anyone on his level capable of giving him a good fight.

"Halt hollow in the name of the Soul Society!" Ichigo turned an uninterested eye onto the voice of a commanding woman to see a cute girl dressed in a black shihakusho waving a katana with a white ribbon tied on the end of it. The pretty girl blinked her eyes, spotting the unconscious hollows on the ground but not quite believing what she was seeing, 'Is… this for real? How could three hollows of this magnitude be taken down so easily?'

The woman shifted her gaze to the orange haired boy holding a samurai sword in his grip, looking anywhere but in her direction, "Could he have done it?' The woman shook her head, "No. That's impossible. He's only a human. But then again, he has that sword in his grip, and the way he carries himself speaks volumes."

"You sure took your sweet time." Ichigo spoke out loud with the woman looking confused.

"Can he see me?" She asked herself. Her eyes blinked when the boy seemingly disappeared as if he had been a figure of her imagination.

"Y'know it's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you, right?" The woman flinched and spun around to see Ichigo standing behind her holding his blade on his shoulder, a cocky smile forming across his face at seeing the shocked expression on her face from witnessing his speed.

The woman's eyes narrowed, "Who are you? You can obviously see me so that means you've got an exceptional amount of reiryoku?"

"Pushy, are we?" Ichigo trolled with a chuckle that made the woman growl at him.

"I asked you a question! What the hell are you and how did you manage to subdue those hollows?" The woman demanded.

"Hmph. Not one for manners, huh? Showing a little proper courtesy by introducing yourself first is generally a good way to meet people. But then again how would I know, I'm not exactly your most beloved guy," Ichigo admitted as if he didn't care that he had little to no friends.

"Fine." The woman relented calmly, "The name's Rukia Kuchiki. Judging by your reaction I take it you've heard of the Soul Society, otherwise known as Heaven to you humans."

"You could say I sniffed around for that info," Ichigo quipped vaguely, confusing Rukia.

"Now then, since I so kindly introduced myself to you, the least you could do is have the same politeness. It's _proper courtesy _after all." Rukia smirked at the scowl that came over Ichigo's face at having his own words thrown back into his face. The black haired girl danced elegantly over to the hollows, slashing their masks clean in half, which immediately made them dispense into small pieces of reishi.

"Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo groused coolly, not even blinking as he saw the woman purify those hollows.

Rukia sheathed her sword away in its scabbard beautifully, "You barely even batted an eyelash while I cleansed those hollows. Furthermore you have knowledge of the Soul Society and a high amount of reiatsu. So, do you mind spilling the beans and telling me who you are?" Rukia asked commandingly, her voice leaving no room for argument.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "Tch. If you dunno then I'm not gonna waste my time filling your empty noggin with useless info you won't even understand midget."

Rukia bristled at the cheeky boy, "How dare you! I'll have you know that I'm century years older than you. You better start showing me some respect. You got that bean pole?"

Ichigo gnashed his teeth, "Those are awfully big words for a dwarf."

"Just like how those words are funny and short words coming from the mouth of a bean pole!"

"Dwarf!"

"Bean pole!"

"Dwarf!"

"Bean pole!"

"Dwarf!"

"Bean pole!"

"Dwarf!"

"Bean pole!"

Ichigo felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. He had only just met this woman and already he hated her, "Whatever." Ichigo strolled over to his brown bag and lifted it up with his foot. He put his samurai sword back into the bag. He couldn't be asked to find the elastic bands he used to tighten the bag so he just left them and shifted his bag onto his shoulder.

"I'm outta here." Ichigo told her, beginning to walk away from the woman.

"Hey! Get back here. We're not done here yet!" Rukia shouted, still wanting to know what Ichigo was, but the rude-boy flipped her the-bird sign over his shoulder, "Okay. So we'll have to do this the hard-way." Rukia held her index and middle fingers up, closing her eyes and letting out a small chant, "**First Restraint Obstruction!"**

Ichigo froze mid step, his arms twisting behind his back after Rukia had shot her two fingers outward in his direction, "Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Ichigo grunted angrily, thrashing around to rid himself of the annoying pain on his arms.

"It's futile to resist my kido spell. Don't bother trying. You'll only be putting yourself in more pain." Rukia elucidated calmly. Her eyes widened as a green aura enveloped Ichigo's body, his arms slowly moving from behind his back. "Impossible! No ordinary human or warrior could break out of my kido spell!"

"Arghhhhh!" Ichigo roared, powering his way free via pure physical strength. His face twisted into a cranky expression, his sword coming out of his bag. Rukia hyperventilated, stepping back as the powerful enraged boy made his way toward her, "So you wanna play, eh little girl?" Ichigo's hand raised upwards, his sword in the air while his green aura covered his body once again.

Rukia looked on in fear of Ichigo's power, the weight of his reiatsu dropping on her shoulders slightly, "**Mokushiroku**-." Ichigo stopped himself from erasing Rukia's existence from this world. He could see Rukia hold her eyes shut while clenching her hands into fists as if she had accepted her death.

'Tch. So she doesn't want to rumble huh.' Then he wouldn't exterminate her since it wasn't the honourable thing to do. A true warrior desired a fair fight. They _did not _cold-heartedly slaughter a woman who had her eyes shut. No way, "I'm outta here… for real this time.

Rukia's eyes shot open, "What? Wai-?" Before she could finish her sentence Ichigo vanished as if he had teleported instantaneously, "Damn it. Was that a Shunpo? No. Its sound was different to that of a Shunpo." Rukia mused as she breathed in and out in relief, "This kid… a whole can of worms have been opened up now, because of him. Why'd he spare my life for when he could've quite easily slayed me?"

It hurt Rukia's pride as a shinigami to know a mere being living in the World of the Living could've eradicated her from existence. But even still she was determined to get to the bottom of the enigma that was Ichigo Kurosaki.

"I'll figure you out somehow, Ichigo Kurosaki."


End file.
